«> 


PRESENTED 


<^%5  ^°f  grave,  T>>^.v^ 


I 


PSIHCEi 

THSOL 

BX  9211  .P49124  P705^872 
Murphy,  Thomas,  1823-1900. 
One  hundred  years  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  of 


Woodburytype. 


A.  P.  E.  P.  Co.,  Phila. 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH    OF    FRANKFORD, 

A.S    IT    IS. 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS 


Presbyterian  Church 


FRANKFORD. 


COMPILED   BY 


THE  KEY.  THOMAS  ^1URPHY. 


PHILADELPHIA  : 
PUBLISHED  BY  THE  CHURCH. 

1872. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1872,  by 

THE  REV.  THOMAS  MURPHY, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  in  Washington. 


JAS.  B.  RODGERS  CO., 

KLECTROTYPERS  AND  PRINTERS, 

PHILADELPHIA. 


PEIHGETOH 
.HEC.  0011882 

INTEODUCTIO^. 


WEDNESDAY,  the  Fourth  of  May,  Eighteen 
Hundred  and  Seventy,  was  a  day  never 
to  be  forgotten  in  the  history  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  of  Frankford.  It  was  the 
Centennial  Anniversary  of  the  laying  of 
the  corner-stone  of  its  first  church  edifice. 
The  occasion  was  observed  with  such  an 
impressiveness  and  such  a  gladness  as  were 
becoming  an  epoch  over  which  few  churches, 
at  least  in  this  land,  are  as  yet  permitted  to 
rejoice.  The  memory  of  the  day  itself  should 
be  cherished.  Its  joy,  its  harmony,  its  hal- 
lowed memories,  its  festivities,  its  impressive 
services,  its  happy  gathering,  the  smiles  of 
Providence  that  were  upon  it,  should  all  be 
recorded,  that  they  may  be  read  over  in  the 

8 


4  INTR  OD  UCTION. 

future  for  the  renewed  pleasure  of  those  who 
participated  in  them,  or  for  the  information  of 
those  who  may  form  this  congregation  when 
its  present  members  shall  have  passed  away. 
Some  months  previous  to  the  day,  the  Ses- 
sion of  the  Church  appointed  a  committee  of 
eleven  members  of  the  congregation  to  make 
suitable  arrangements  for  its  celebration.  The 
names  of  this  committee  w^ere,  Reuben  Myers, 
Alfred  H.  Foster,  John  McMullen,  Frederick 
K.  Womrath,  James  C.  Thompson,  Linford 
Castor,  Joseph  Ball,  Howard  Yonker,  Samuel 
Wakeling,  Wm.  E.  Hamill,  Rudolph  Adams. 
Faithfully  and  well  did  this  committee  per- 
form the  duties  which  had  been  assigned  them, 
projecting  a  plan  for  the  observance  of  the 
day,  forming  themselves  into  sub-committees 
for  carrying  out  that  plan,  and  devising  means 
by  which  all  necessary  expenses  should  be  pro- 
vided for.  But  the  committee  were  not  under 
the  necessity  of  acting  alone.  The  officers  of 
the  Church,  its  Session  and  Trustees,  and  the 
members  of  the  congregation  generally,  entered 
into   the  work  most  heartily.     To   the  ladies 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

particularly  thanks  are  due  for  the  successful 
manner  in  which  most  of  the  arrangements 
were  carried  out.  It  was  by  them  that  money 
was  collected,  that  bountiful  entertainment 
was  prepared,  and  numberless  efforts  made  for 
the  welcome  reception  of  all  friends  who  might 
come  to  share  in  the  festivities  of  the  joyous 
occasion.  So  completely  were  all  the  arrange- 
ments made,  and  with  so  much  unanimity  did 
all  enter  into  the  matter,  that  from  first  to  last 
there  was  not  one  ^serious  disappointment,  and 
not  one  thing  to  disturb  the  perfect  harmony 
and  good  feeling.  All  looked  forward  hope- 
fully to  the  important  occasion,  but  the  success 
w^hich  attended  its  observance  went  far  beyond 
the  expectations  of  any. 

When  the  day  arrived  the  weather  itself 
was  propitious.  The  days  before  had  been 
stormy — those  which  followed  were  cold  and 
gloomy.  But  upon  this  day  the  sun  rose 
cheerfully,  and  the  air  of  early  May  was  mild 
and  balmy.  It  seemed  as  if  Providence  was 
smiling    upon    us    even    in    this    respect.     An 

almost   Sabbath    calm  prevailed.     The    serene 

1* 


6  INIR  OD  UCTION. 

atmosphere  and  joyous  sunshine  tempted  all 
abroad,  and  spread  over  all  a  feeling  of  cheer- 
fulness. 

Outside  of  the  Church,  which  stood  upon 
the  ground  that  had  been  devoted  to  the 
worship  of  God  for  an  hundred  years,  all  was 
calm,  and  bright,  and  inspiring.  Never  had 
its  old  trees  looked  down  upon  happier  hearts 
than  upon  the  hundreds  who  were  gathering 
into  the  house  of  God  that  morning.  Inside 
of  the  Church  there  was  felt  to  be  an  almost 
sacred  satisfaction  by  every  one  that  entered. 
The  simple,  yet  most  appropriate  and  impres- 
sive decorations  which  covered  the  walls  and 
hung  from  the  ceiling,  the  fragrance  emitted  from 
wreaths  and  flowers,  and  the  hearty  words  of 
welcome  filled  all  with  surprise  and  pleasure. 
The  adornments  were  not  elaborate,  but  they 
were  beautiful  in  their  simplicity  and  in  the 
suitable  thoughts  they  were  calculated  to 
awaken.  On  the  platform  which  extended 
across  the  pulpit  end  of  the  church  there  were 
two  wide-spreading  century  plants  emblema- 
tic of  the  great  occasion.     Spanning  the  pulpit, 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

on  the  wall,  in  letters  of  evergreens,  was  the 
sublime  and  fitting  text, — ^'  Thou  hast  been 
our  dwelling-place  in  all  generations."  Before 
this  text  stood  conspicuously  the  figures,  1770 
— after  it,  1870.  Noble  festoons  of  laurel, 
ivy,  and  cedar  sprang  down  from  the  four 
corners  of  the  ceiling,  and  were  looped  up 
together  at  its  centre.  Wreaths  surrounded 
the  gas  brackets  around  the  walls,  from  which 
also  were  suspended  fragrant  hanging  baskets 
of  flowers.  Flowers,  as  fresh  and  beautiful  as 
that  May  morning,  were  on  the  pulpit,  on  the 
platform,  in  the  garlands  which  wreathed  the 
gallery,  wherever  the  eye  could  turn.  The 
purest  sense  was  gratified,  the  sweetest  thoughts 
awakened. 

Previous  to  the  anniversary  there  was  much 
speculation  as  to  whether  a  large  attendance 
could  be  secured  on  a  day  in  the  middle  of  the 
week ;  but  as  the  hour  of  the  morning  exer- 
cises arrived  all  anxiety  on  that  score  dis- 
appeared. The  house  soon  began  to  fill.  In 
the  afternoon  it  was  crowded.  In  the  evening 
very  many  could  not  find   room  to  enter.     It 


8  INTRODUCTION. 

was  a  most  inspiring  scene,  as  the  cars  brought 
load  after  load  of  friends  from  the  city,  as  car- 
riages drove  in  from  all  the  surrounding 
country,  and  as  the  streets  in  every  direction 
were  alive  with  persons  coming  to  join  our 
happy  celebration.  Many  persons  came  from 
a  distance  who  themselves  in  former  days  had 
worshijDped  in  the  Church,  or  whose  ancestors 
and  other  relatives  had  been  connected  with 
it.  Members  of  families  long  separated  came 
together  in  the  spot  hallowed  to  them  all. 
Friends  who,  in  former  days.  Sabbath  after 
Sabbath,  had  gone  up  to  the  old  Church  in 
company,  now  met  once  more  on  earth,  before 
the  days  of  their  pilgrimage  were  ended. 
Representatives  of  old  families  of  the  Church 
came  home  again,  some  of  them  from  distant 
States.  At  the  joyous  re-union  how  many 
sacred  old  associations  were  revived !  how 
many  hallowed  remembrances  of  the  past  were 
brought  up !  how  many  sacred  scenes  were  re- 
vived, and  fixed  still  more  indelibly  on  mem- 
ory !  how  many  dear  names  were  spoken  of 
which  were  once   cherished  on  earth,  but  now 


INTR  OD  UCTIOK  9 

recorded  in  the  General  Assembly  and  Church 
of  the  First-born  above  !  Besides  those  who 
were  thus  drawn  together  by  the  precious 
memories  and  associations  of  the  past  there 
were  also  large  numbers  of  others  present. 
All  the  denominations  of  the  community 
were  largely  represented.  On  the  platform 
there  were  ministers  of  the  various  churches, 
United  Presbyterian,  Baptist,  Methodist,  Epis- 
copalian and  others.  Clergymen  and  other 
distinguished  visitors,  including  the  Mayor  of 
the  city  and  judges  of  the  courts,  honored  us 
with  their  presence.  Such  a  concourse  of 
honored  names  had  probably  never  been  gath- 
ered together  on  one  occasion  in  Frankford. 

It  was  a  great  source  of  pleasure  to  the 
Committee  having  the  celebration  in  charge, 
that  they  were  able  to  secure  the  services  of 
such  eminent  men  as  speakers  for  the  occasion. 
Most  kindly  and  promptly  did  they  consent  to 
be  present,  and  lend  their  aid.  It  was  also 
highly  gratifying  that  all  those  who  had  en- 
gaged to  deliver  the  addresses,  save  two,  were 
enabled    to    attend.     Hon.    J.  Ross    Snowden, 


10  INTRODUCTION, 

whose  father,  in  olden  times,  had  often 
preached  in  the  church,  was  prevented  by  sick- 
ness. The  Rev.  Henry  W.  Biggs,  son  of  one  of 
the  former  pastors,  was  also  providentially  pre- 
vented from  being  present.  The  addresses 
were  in  every  respect  such  as  to  give  the  high- 
est satisfaction.  They  were  listened  to  with 
the  deepest  interest  by  the  vast  audiences  who 
were  present  morning,  afternoon,  and  evening. 
They  touched  upon  almost  every  point  that 
was  appropriate  to  the  Centennial  Anniversary 
of  a  Presbyterian  Church,  and  of  this  Church 
in  particular.  It  was  fortunate  that,  through 
the  skill  of  an  excellent  phonographer,  the  Rev. 
S.  M.  Stiles,  of  the  Methodist  Church,  these 
addresses  have  been  preserved  so  fully;  and 
that  they  may  thus  be  handed  down  in  this 
volume. 

The  music  of  the  occasion  w^as  not  its  least 
attractive  feature.  Conducted  entirely  by  the 
Church's  own  choir,  the  expressions  of  satisfac- 
tion it  called  forth  from  every  quarter  were  all 
the  more  gratifying.  The  choir  entered  fully 
into  the   spirit  of  the   day.     This  they  could 


INTR  on  UCTION.  1 1 

well  do,  for  the  Church  was  dear  to  them,  as  it 
had  been  to  many  of  their  fathers.  This 
hearty  love  for  the  cause  gave  zeal  in  the  selec- 
tion of  the  music,  and  inspired  life  and  excel- 
lency in  the  sacred  songs  with  which  the  exer- 
cises of  the  day  were  diversified.  Most  ani- 
mating were  the  moments  when  some  dear  old 
tunes,  uttering  words  hallowed  to  the  children 
of  God,  were  joined  in  by  the  vast  assemblage, 
«nd  filled  the  whole  house  with  the  sounds  of 
praise. 

As  it  is  desirable  that  all  the  prominent 
events  of  the  day  should  be  fixed  upon  record, 
there  must  be  mention  made  of  the  abundant 
entertainment  which  had  been  provided.  This 
was,  of  course,  the  work  of  the  ladies.  With 
taste  and  zeal  they  had  planned  for  receiving, 
with  the  most  generous  hospitality,  all  friends 
who  might  come  up  to  the  great  assembly.  It 
was  believed  that  large  numbers  of  strangers 
would  come  to  spend  the  happy  day  with  us, 
and  nothing  was  left  undone  which  it  was  sup- 
posed would  add  to  the  heartiness  with  which 
they  would  be  welcomed.     The  expenses  neces- 


12  INTRODUCTION. 

sary  for  this  provision  were  contributed  most 
cheerfully.  Though  over  one  thousand  dollars, 
in  money,  and  in  the  estimated  value  of  arti- 
cles donated,  were  required,  there  was  no  diffi- 
culty in  collecting  enough — yea,  more  than 
enough.  So  great  was  the  enthusiasm  that 
there  should  be  no  deficiency  in  the  hospitality, 
that  an  overflowing  abundance  was  offered 
without  any  urgency  of  application.  Dinner 
and  tea  were  ]3rovided,  and  all  comers  were 
invited  to  partake  in  the  festivities  of  the  day. 
The  Sabbath-school  room  of  the  Church  was 
furnished  with  elegance  and  true  taste  for  the 
cheerful  gathering.  Five  tables  extended  the 
length  of  the  room,  and  were  fairly  ablaze 
with  shining  plate,  with  brilliant  flowers,  and, 
above  all,  with  the  savory  and  substantial 
dishes  with  which  they  were  loaded.  Course 
after  course  of  guests  filled  these  tables,  and 
made  the  whole  scene  most  animated  and 
cheering.  It  was  estimated  that  not  less  than 
fifteen  hundred  individual  repasts  were  par- 
taken of,  and  still  there  were  preparations  for 
more.     Of  all   the  pleasure   furnished  by  this 


INTR  on  UCTION.  1 3 

entertainment,  there  was  none  so  great  as  that 
of  the  fair  entertainers,  who  doubly  rejoiced  in 
the  enjoyment  of  their  friends. 

As  a  part  of  the  history  of  this  celebration, 
we  give  extracts  concerning  it  from  some  of 
the  journals  of  the  day,  whose  editors  or 
reporters  were  present.  A  desire  to  preserve 
it  as  fully  as  possible  for  the  future  may  apolo- 
gize for  retaining  the  reference  to  the  historical 
address  read  on  the  occasion,  which  perhaps 
good  taste  required  to  be  omitted. 

The  editor  of  "  The  Presbyterian,"  the  Rev. 
Matthew  B.  Grier,  D.  D.,  w^ho  was  present  on 
the  occasion,  and  took  part  in  the  exercises, 
gave  this  account  of  it  in  the  next  issue  of 
that  paper : — 

"  A  very  bright  and  pleasant  day  was  Wednesday,  the 
4th  inst.,  the  day  of  the  centennial  anniversary  of  the 
Frankford  Presbyterian  Church.  The  Church  was  gar- 
landed wdth  evergreens  and  gay  with  spring  flowers.  On 
the  walls  were  '1770 — 1870,'  indicating  the  years 
through  which  the  church's  life  had  run,  and  with  them 
words  of  Scripture  most  appropriate  to  the  time  and 
place.  '  Thou  hast  been  our  dwelling-place  in  all  genera- 
tions.'    A   large   platform    extended  entirely  across    the 


14  INTRODUCTION. 

eastern  end  of  the  church,  on  which  was  seated  a  large 
number  of  ministers  of  our  Church  and  some  of  other 
denominations.  At  the  other  end  of  the  church  was  the 
choir,  with  the  organ,  which  varied  the  services  by  appro- 
priate music  throughout  the  day. 

The  services  of  the  Anniversary  were  divided  into 
three  parts,  and  the  morning,  afternoon  and  evening  were 
thus  occupied.  The  introductory  address  was  made  by 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Musgrave,  and  the  historical  address,  con- 
taining a  resume  of  the  events  which  had  marked  the 
church's  life  for  the  century  just  past,  by  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Murphy,  who  has  been  for  twenty  years  the  use- 
ful and  beloved  pastor  of  the  church.  This  address, 
which  was  the  chief  feature  of  the  exercises  of  the  morn- 
ing, Avas  undoubtedly  one  of  the  finest  historical  sketches 
we  have  ever  heard.  Much  labor  had  been  expended 
upon  it,  but  this  appeared  only  in  the  exactness  and  ful- 
ness of  statements  in  regard  to  the  events  of  the  church's 
history.  The  style  of  the  address  was  admirable ;  and 
though  the  reading  lasted  one  hour  and  a  half,  it  was  lis- 
tened to  without  weariness  to  the  close.  Five  well  defined 
periods  were  described  as  belonging  to  the  history  of  the 
church,  and  in  each  of  these  some  marked  and  salient 
event  was  used,  around  which  the  other  events  of  the 
period  were  grouped.  We  were  surprised  to  find  that  for 
the  first  thirty- two  years  of  its  existence  the  church  had 
belonged  to  the  German  Reformed  body,  and  joined  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  1802.     The  names  and  services  of 


INTR  OD  UCTIOK  1 5 

many  of  the  pastors,  particularly  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Doak 
and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Biggs,  now  departed,  were  made  sub- 
jects of  special  mention.  The  names  of  those  who  had 
served  as  elders  and  trustees  in  the  church  were  carefully 
noted.  Very  few  of  our  churches,  which  have  reached 
the  age  of  one  hundred  years,  will  have  as  full  and  accu- 
rate a  history  as  that  which  has  been  so  finely  written  of 
the  Church  in  Frankford  by  its  pastor. 

In  the  afternoon,  the  Rev.  Dr.  William  D.  Howard,  of 
Pittsburg,  Pa.,  who  was  pastor  of  the  Church  at  Frank- 
ford  from  1838  to  1849,  gave  his  reminiscences,  which 
were  very  interesting.  He  described  the  old  Church  as  it 
was  when  he  assumed  the  pastorate,  the  Church  that  was 
removed  to  make  room  for  the  present  fine  structure. 
He  paid  a  hearty  and  affectionate  tribute  of  praise  to 
some  of  those  who  labored  with  him  in  the  gospel,  and 
who  stood  fast  by  the  Church  in  its  low  estate,  but  who 
have  gone  to  the  assembly  and  church  of  the  first-born 
in  heaven.  After  Dr.  Howard  came  addresses  from  Dr. 
Hodge  and  Dr.  McCosh,  of  Princeton,  who  had  come  to 
join  in  the  pleasant  services  of  the  day,  and  who  spoke 
with  much  force  and  aptness. 

In  the  evening  addresses  were  made  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Beadle  and  Judge  Allison,  of  Philadelphia,  and  Dr. 
John  Hall,  of  New  York ;  but  these  we  were  not  so  for- 
tunate as  to  hear.  Thus  ended,  amidst  joy  and  congratu- 
lation, the  well-devised  and  well-ordered  proceedings  of 
this    important   era    in   the    history   of    the    Frankford 


1 6  INTR  OD  UCTION. 

Church.  May  the  close  of  the  century  ujDon  which  it  has  now 
entered  find  it  in  abundant  prosperity ;  the  centre,  as  now, 
of  good  influences,  and  the  home  of  many  precious  souls. 
We  must  not  forget  to  add  that  the  hospitalities  ex- 
tended by  the  Church  to  the  strangers  who  were  drawn  by 
the  attractive  services  of  the  day  to  Frankford,  were 
generous  and  hearty.  The  ladies  of  the  Church  had  pro- 
vided dinner  and  tea,  and  gave  their  guests  such  a  boun- 
ful  entertainment  that,  we  doubt  not,  many  of  them 
wished  that  they  could  see  their  fair  entertainers  oftener 
than  once  in  a  century.  And  the  only  shade  of  regret 
which  steals  in  on  such  occasions,  comes  with  the  thouo-ht 
that  when  the  anniversary  arrives  again,  all  the  faces 
which  looked  so  bright  and  happy  last  week,  will  have 
vanished  from  the  earth,  and  all  the  voices  that  spoke  or 
sang  be  silent  on  earth  forever.  Blessed  be  God  for  the 
hope  that  all  will  at  last  be  gathered  where  the  wor- 
shippers do  not  separate,  and  where  the  generations  that 
have  successively  filled  one  Church  on  earth  will  sing 
together  of  the  loving-kindness  of  the  Lord,  and  praise 
Him  who  has  been  the  dwelling-place  of  his  people  in  all 
generations." 

The  next  extract  is  from  the  "  Reformed 
(German)  Church  Messenger."  This  notice  of 
the  event  is  valuable,  as  coming  from  a  lead- 
ing journal  of  that  body  with  which  the 
Church  was  originally  connected. 


INTR  OD  UCTION.  17 

"A  very  interesting  series  of  religious  exercises  was 
held  in  the  Frankford  Presbyterian  Church  on  the  4th 
inst.  They  were  participated  in  by  a  large  number  of 
Presbyterian  clergymen,  to  whom  was  added  Judge  Alli- 
son of  this  city.  It  was  the  centennial  celebration  of  the 
laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  the  first  Church.  The  pro- 
ceedings possess  more  or  less  interest  for  members  of  the 
Reformed  church,  in  view  of  the  early  ecclesiastical  rela- 
tions of  the  congregation. 

The  pastor,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Murphy,  presented  a  full 
and  interesting  history  of  the  Church  from  its  commence- 
ment to  the  present  day.  As  is  known  to  some  of  our 
more  aged  ministers,  this  Church  was  organized  and  sus- 
tained as  a  Reformed  church  for  a  number  of  years,  but 
eventually  passed  over  into  the  Presbyterian  church,  as 
did  some  others  in  other  sections  of  the  church,  about 
the  same  time  and  at  a  later  period,  in  consequence  of  the 
introduction  of  the  English  language  into  the  services,  to 
which  our  early  German  ministers  manifested  a  marked 
degree  of  hostility.  The  transition,  in  some  instances, 
was  made,  not  only  with  their  full  approbation,  but  even 
at  their  suggestion.  How  far  this  applies  to  the  present 
case,  our  sources  do  not  authorize  us  to  assert  positively. 
The  transition,  however,  was  at  least  more  legitimate  and 
justifiable,  than  are  some  efiected  at  a  later  day. 

According  to  the  historical  statement  of  the  pastor, 
which,  as  far  as  our  knowledge  extends,  is  correct,  the 
corner-stone  of  the  original  building  was  laid  on  the  4th 

2* 


18  INTRODUCTION. 

of  May,  1770.  During  the  first  thirty-two  years  of  its 
connection  with  the  Synod  of  the  German  Reformed 
church,  the  services  were  conducted  exclusively  in  the 
German  language.  In  1802  the  English  language  was 
introduced,  and  some  few  years  later,  we  presume  soon 
after  the  close  of  the  services  of  its  last  pastor,  connected 
with  the  Reformed  church,  the  Rev.  John  William  Run- 
kel,  in  November,  1805,  the  congregation  passed  over  to 
the  Presbyterian  church." 

The  next  extracts  are  from  "  The  Hohnes- 
burg  Gazette,"  penned  by  its  editor,  Mr.  W.  F. 
Knott.  We  omit  his  very  full  account  of  the 
addresses,  and  give  only  a  few  paragraphs  de- 
scriptive of  the  more  general  exercises. 

"  Last  Wednesday  was  a  day  in  the  history  of  Frank- 
ford,  that  will  long  be  remembered  by  its  citizens  as  the 
occasion  of  the  Centennial  Anniversary  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church.  For  some  time  past  this  event  was  looked 
forward  to  with  an  interest  that  knew  no  abatement  until 
the  occasion  itself  should  arrive,  and  the  good  work  be 
duly  consummated.  As  if  acting  in  concert,  the  weather 
was  all  that  could  be  desired — clear,  cool  and  pleasant. 
The  fine  rain  of  the  evening  previous  served  to  purify  the 
atmosphere,  and  lay  the  dust  in  the  streets,  thus  enabling 
strangers  who  had  been  drawn  to  Frankford  to  partici- 
pate in  this  event  to  enjoy,  during  the  recess  of  the  ses- 
sions, a  promenade  along  its  thoroughfares. 


INTRODUCTION.  19 

The  interior  of  the  Church  was  most  beautifully  deco- 
rated. From  each  of  the  gas  brackets  hung  suspended  a 
magnificent  basket  of  rich  and  luxurious  plants,  while, 
from  the  ceiling  of  the  recess  in  the  rear  of  the  pulpit, 
hung  suspended  a  large,  and  elegantly  arranged  bouquet 
of  flowers, — a  credit  to  the  fair  fingers  that  weaved  it 
together  in  so  artistic  a  manner.  At  each  end  of  the 
platform  was  placed  a  fine  specimen  of  the  "  Century  " 
plant,  seeming  so  appropriate  with  the  day  itself.  In  the 
centre  of  the  ceiling  was  fastened  a  large  wreath  of  ever- 
green, which  threw  out  long  streamers  in  various  direc- 
tions, while  the  walls  over  the  windows  were  festooned 
with  the  same  materials. 

Long  before  the  hour  announced  for  the  commence- 
ment of  the  morning  session,  the  large  building  was  filled 
by  a  large  and  intelligent  audience,  who  seemed  desirous 
of  taking  part  in  the  interesting  exercises  of  the  day.  The 
platform  was  filled  by  eminent  clergymen  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  and  others  holding  oflicial  connection 
therewith. 

At  the  close  of  Mr.  Murphy's  address  another  anthem 
was  sung  by  the  choir,  after  which  the  Kev.  Henry  W. 
Beggs  pronounced  a  Benediction.  The  announcement 
was  now  made  to  the  large  audience  assembled,  that  the 
ladies  of  the  Church  had  prepared  a  dinner  for  those  who 
chose  to  partake  of  it.  The  lecture-room  had  been 
handsomely  fitted  up  for  these  festival  purposes.  Five 
long  tables  were  erected,  each  of  which  would  accommo- 


20  INTR  OD  UCTION. 

date  on  an  average  forty-five  persons.  These  tables  were 
covered  with  everything  that  the  fancies  of  the  lady 
managers  could  suggest,  in  the  shape  of  excellently  pre- 
pared edibles,  and  which  it  is  needless  for  us  to  say  was 
liberally  patronized.  It  was  thought  that  about  six  hun- 
dred took  dinner,  while  the  kind  offer  of  the  ladies  to 
furnish  supper  was  accepted  by  about  one  thousand  per- 
sons. 

During  the  recess  that  intervened  between  the  after- 
noon and  evening  sessions,  the  streets  of  Frankford  were 
made  to  assume  quite  a  lively  appearance  by  the  prome- 
nade of  many  of  the  friends  in  attendance  at  the  Church. 
Stepping  into  the  room,  previously  referred  to  as  being 
fitted  up  by  the  Society  for  the  entertainment  of  their 
guests,  the  same  magnificent  sight  met  the  eye  as  was 
observable  at  the  noon-day  meal — tables  handsomely 
decorated  with  flowers,  and  heavily  freighted  with  sub- 
stantial tokens  of  good-will  and  esteem.  We  must  be 
pardoned  for  saying  here  that  we  think  for  courtesy, 
kindness  and  liberality,  the  ladies  of  Frankford  are  un- 
excelled. We  could  not  help  wishing  that  their  future 
lives  might  be  full  of  happiness,  and  that  they  might  be 
spared  to  entertain  their  friends  upon  future  occasions. 

"  Lord,  Dismiss  us  with  Thy  Blessing,"  was  sung  by  the 
choir  and  congregation,  after  which  the  Benediction  was 
pronounced,  and  the  large  assemblage  began  to  disperse, 
happy  at  the  thought  that  they  had  been  participants  in 
an  Anniversary  held  under  such  auspicious  circumstances. 


INTR  OD  UCTION.  21 

We  cannot  close  our  somewhat  imperfect  sketch  of  the 
Proceedings  of  this  Anniversary  without  making  special 
reference  to  the  perfect  manner  in  which  the  event  was 
managed  in  all  its  details.  The  committee  all  seemed  to 
have  done  their  work  admirably — laboring  together  in 
harmony,  and  determined  to  spare  no  pains  to  make  the 
visit  of  their  friends  an  interesting  one.  We  feel  sure 
that  all  who  participated  in  this  Centennial  Anniversary 
will  long  remember  the  occasion,  and  regret  that  such  a 
thing  comes  but  once  in  a  hundred  years." 

Most  of  the  daily  papers  of  the  city  had  full 
reports  of  the  Centennial ;  we  give  the  opening 
and  closing  paragraphs  of  one  of  the  most  com- 
plete of  them — that  contained  in  "  The  Press." 

"  At  an  early  hour  a  rejoicing  throng  began  pouring 
into  the  beautiful  Church  structure,  at  the  corner  of  Main 
and  Church  streets,  and  at  the  opening  of  the  exercises 
the  Church  was  filled  in  every  part.  The  interior  of  the 
Church  was  beautifully  decorated.  From  the  ceiling  and 
upon  every  wall  graceful  festoons  depended:  numerous 
hanging  baskets  were  hung  at  short  distances  from  each 
other,  while  a  large  number  of  potted  tropical  plants, 
exquisite  bouquets,  and  vases  of  cut  flowers  rendered  the 
scene  one  of  great  beauty. 

The  platform  was  occupied  by  prominent  clergymen 
and  others  invited  to  participate  in  the  interesting  exer- 
cises of  the  day. 


22  INTR  OD  UCTION. 

The  music  was  rendered  by  a  large  choir  in  an  excel- 
lent manner,  the  selections  being  made  with  great  taste 
and  a  due  regard  for  the  jubilant  character  of  the  occa- 
sion. 

At  the  conclusion  of  these  eloquent  addresses,  of  which 
w^e  can  only  give  the  foregoing  scanty  abstract,  the 
audience  was  dismissed  with  the  benediction,  and  dispersed 
full  of  the  best  and  happiest  feelings,  and  greatly  impressed 
with  the  golden  truths  w^hich  they  had  caught  from  the 
lips  of  the  denomination's  greatest  champions. 

AVe  cannot  conclude  this  report  without  special  men- 
tion of  the  great  courtesy  shown  us  by  the  Committee  on 
the  celebration,  who  fairly  overwhelmed  us  with  their 
warm  hospitalities  and  ministrations  to  our  comfort 
during  the  protracted  stay  which  the  occasion  demanded. 
We  append  the  names  of  the  members  of  this  committee : 
Reuben  Myers,  chairman ;  Joseph  Ball,  secretary  ;  Lin- 
ford  Castor,  treasurer;  Alfred  H.  Foster,  John  McMullin, 
William  E.  Hamill,  Frederick  K.  Womrath,  Rudolph 
Adams,  Samuel  Wakeling,  Howard  Yonker,  and  James 
C.  Thompson." 

Such  was  this  memorable  day  in  the  exis- 
tence of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Frank- 
ford.  It  is  no  wonder  that  the  whole  commu- 
nity was  alive  and  excited  by  the  occasion.  It 
is  no  wonder  that,  on  every  hand,  from  those 
who  entered  heartily  into  it,  was  heard  the 


INTR  OD  UCTION.  23 

assertion,  ''  It  was  the  happiest  day  I  ever 
spent."  It  was  a  day  that  never  can  be  for- 
gotten. Not  only  in  the  event  which  it  cele- 
brated, but  also  in  its  own  successful  and 
happy  occurrences,  it  was  one  day  of  a  cen- 
tury. 


CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION. 


Morning  Services,  10  A.  M. 


REV.  MATTHEW  B.  GRIER,  D.  D.,  PRESIDING. 


I. 

INVOCATION. 

BY   THE    KEV.    JOSEPH    BEGGS. 

WE  would  worship  and  adore  thee,  O  God,  as.  the 
self-existent,  the  independent,  and  the  ever- 
blessed  God.  Thou  hast  been  our  dwelling-place  in 
all  generations.  We  thank  thee  this  morning  for  thy 
wondrous  mercy  and  grace  to  thy  church  ;  and  espe- 
cially would  we  thank  thee  for  thy  goodness  and  thy 
mercy  to  this  particular  church.  We  thank  thee  for 
all  that  thou  hast  done  for  us ;  and,  as  we  come  here 
to-day  to  worship  and  to  talk  of  the  things  pertaining 

to  thy  kingdom,  we  pray  that  thine  especial  presence 
^  25 


26  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CHURCH 

and  thy  blessing  may  be  with  us  ;  that  every  thing 
that  may  be  clone  this  day  shall  redound  to  the  pro- 
motion of  thy  great  glory  and  to  the  advancement  of 
the  Redeemer's  kingdom  upon  the  earth.  We  pray 
that  thou  wouldst  be  with  us  when  singing  the  songs 
of  Zion,  and  grant  that,  notwithstanding  the  sins  and 
the  imperfections  that  cling  to  our  nearest  approaches 
unto  thee,  the  words  of  our  mouths  and  the  medita- 
tions of  our  hearts  may  be  acceptable  in  thy  siglit, 
O  Lord,  our  strength  and  our  Redeemer.     Amen. 


IT. 
HYMN. 

READ    BY    THE    REV.    JAMES    PRICE, 

PASTOR  OF  THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH  OF  FRANKFORD, 

AND  SUNG  BY  THE  CHOIR  AND  CONGREGATION. 

All  people  that  on  earth  do  dwell, 
Sing  to  the  Lord  with  cheerful  voice, 

Him  serve  with    mirth,  His    praise  forth    tell, 
Come  ye  before  Him  and  rejoice. 

Know  that  the  Lord  is  God  indeed, 

Without  our  aid  He  did  us  make ; 
We  are  His  flock,  He  doth  us  feed, 

And  for  His  sheep,  He  doth  us  take. 


OF  FRANKFORD.  27 

0  enter  then  His  gates  with  praise, 

Approach  with  joy  His  courts  unto  ; 
Praise,  laud,  and  bless  His  name  always, 

For  it  is  seemly  so  to  do. 

Because  the  Lord  our  God  is  good, 

His  mercy  is  for  ever  sure ; 
His  truth  at  all  times  firmly  stood. 

And  shall  from  age  to  age  endure. 


III. 

READING  OF  THE  gCRIPTURES. 

BY  THE  REV.  W.  E.  SCHENCK,  D.  D. 

PSALM    XLVIII. 

1.  Great  is  the  Lord,  and  greatly  to  be  praised  in  the  city  of  our 
God,  in  the  mountain  of  his  holiness. 

2.  Beautiful  for  situation,  the  joy  of  the  whole  earth,  is  mount 
Zion,  on  the  sides  of  the  north,  the  city  of  the  great  king. 

3.  God  is  known  in  her  palaces  for  a  refuge. 

4.  For  lo,  the  kings  were  assembled,  they  passed  by  together. 

5.  They  saw  it,  and  so  they  marvelled ;  they  were  troubled, 
and  hasted  away. 

6.  Fear  took  hold  upon  them  there,  and  pain,  as  of  a  woman 
in  travail. 

7.  Thou  breakest  the  ships  of  Tarshish  with  an  east  wind, 

8.  As  we  have  heard,  so  have  we  seen  in  the  city  of  the  Lord 
of  hosts,  in  the  city  of  our  God :  God  will  establish  it  forever. 
Selah. 


28  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CH  UR CH 

9.  We  have  thought  of  thy  loving  kindness,  0  God,  in  the 
midst  of  thy  temple. 

10.  According  to  thy  name,  0  God,  so  is  thy  praise  unto  the 
ends  of  the  earth  :  thy  right  hand  is  full  of  righteousness. 

11.  Let   mount  Zion  rejoice,  let  the  daughters  of   Judah  be 
glad,  because  of  thy  judgments. 

12.  Walk  about  Zion,  and  go  round  about  her:  tell  the  tow- 
ers thereof. 

13.  Mark  ye  well  her  bulwarks,  consider  her  palaces;  that  ye 
may  tell  it  to  the  generations  following. 

14.  For  this  God  is  our  God  forever  and  ever:   he  will  be  our 
guide  eve7i  unto  death. 

PSALM    CXXII. 

1.  1  was  glad  when  the^^  said  unto  me,  Let  us  go  into  the 
house  of  the  Lord. 

2.  Our  feet  shall  stand  within  thy  gates,  0  Jerusalem, 

3.  Jerusalem  is  builded  as  a  city  that  is  compact  together: 

4.  Whither  the  tribes  go  up,  the  tribes  of  the  Lord,  unto  the 
testimony  of  Israel,  to  give  thanks  unto  the  name  of  the 
Lord. 

5.  For  there  are  set  thrones  of  judgment,  the  thrones  of  the 
house  of  David. 

6.  Pray  for  the  peace  of  Jerusalem  :  they  shall  prosper  that 
love  thee. 

7.  Peace  be  within  thy  walls,  and  prosperity  within  thy 
palaces. 

8.  For  my  brethren  and  companions'  sakes,  I  will  now  say. 
Peace  be  within  thee. 

9.  Because  of  the  house  of  the  Lord  our  God  I  will  seek  thy 
good. 


OF  FliAXKFORD.  29 

lY. 
PRAYEE. 

BY    THE    REV.    WILLIAM    BLACKWOOD,    D.  D. 

Almighty  and  ever-living  Gocl,  we  desire  now  to 
enter  into  thy  heart-searching  presence,  to  draw  near 
nnto  the9,  our  Father  in  heaven,  to  praise  thee  for  the 
mercies  of  thy  hand,  humbly  to  confess  our  great 
Lin  worthiness,  to  tell  thee  of  all  our  wants,  and  to 
entreat  thy  forgiveness,  and  the  abundant  bestowal  of 
all  the  precious  mercies  that  thou  knowest  we  need  for 
the  life  that  now  is,  and  for  a  full  and  gracious  pre- 
])aration  for  the  life  that  is  to  come.  O  Lord,  our 
God,  we  entreat  thee,  lift  now  our  hearts  up  unto  thee 
in  humble  trust,  in  the  exercise  of  a  spirit  of  faith 
that  realizes  thy  presence,  that  recognizes  the  faithful- 
ness of  thy  character,  as  well  as  the  freeness  of  mercy 
that  thou  dost  vouchsafe  unto  thy  people.  Put  away 
all  will-worship ;  put  away  out  of  our  hearts,  we 
beseech  thee,  everything  that  is  cold,  that  is  formal, 
and  lead  us  now  to  thy  throne  in  the  spirit  of  thy 
children ;  and  help  us.  Lord,  to  have  communion  with 
thee,  our  Father,  such  as  shall  refresh  and  strengthen 
our  souls. 

We  bless  thee  that  thou,  who  hast  created  us,  who 
dost  hate  all  sin  and  abhor  all   iniquity,  yet   in   mercy 


30  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

hast  spared  us,  not  only  to  crown  us  with  the  blessings 
needful  for  the  present  life,  but  also  to  bestow  npon  us 
the  blessing  of  thy  gospel,  yea  all  the  provisions  of 
the  covenant  ordered  in  all  things  and  sure.  We  bless 
thee,  Almighty  God,  that  in  consequence  of  this,  the 
arrangement  of  thy  grace,  the  lost  race  of  the  family 
of  man  has  heard  the  tidings  of  salvation.  Wq  bless 
thee  that  the  gospel  has  reached  us ;  and  though  our 
fathers  have  rebelled  against  thee,  though  we  have 
been  undutiful  and  rebellious  likewise,  yet  Lord,  didst 
thou  cheer  them  and  bless  us  with  tliy  precious  word, 
with  the  organization  of  a  church  in  the  midst  of  us 
and  our  generations ;  and  thou,  Lord,  art  still  con- 
tinuing unto  us  this  precious  treasure,  giving  us  so 
richly,  so  continuously,  to  enjoy  all  that  thy  word 
doth  hold  forth  unto  thy  believing  people. 

We  praise  thee.  Almighty  God,  that  in  the  days 
that  are  past  thou  didst  organize  a  church  in  this 
place.  We  recognize  thy  mercy  unto  the  fathers  that 
have  gone  hence ;  and  we  praise  thee  for  all  the  light 
thou  didst  give  unto  them  in  their  day  ;  for  the  man- 
ner in  which  thou  didst  direct  and  sustain  them  in  thy 
service;  for  all  the  grace  given  unto  them  in  cheering 
them,  in  looking  forward  to  the  realities  of  eternity. 
We  adore  and  magnify  thy  name  that  thou  art  still 
present  from  day  to  day,  blessing  thy  servants,  giving 


OF  FRANKFORD.  3 1 

thy  blessing,  and  causing  this  church  and  congrega- 
tion still  to  be  a  living  witness  for  thee.  O  Lord,  our 
God,  we  entreat  thee,  have  mercy,  and  pour  out  the 
abundance  of  thy  blessing  upon  thy  servants  that 
labor  in  this  place ;  upon  the  pastor,  as  every  Sabbath 
he  may  proclaim  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ ; 
upon  the  eldership  appointed  to  uphold  his  hands; 
upon  all  the  membership  of  the  church,  that  one  and 
all  may  love,  fear  and  serve  thee,  as  it  is  their  duty  to 
do ;  give  them,  abundantly,  we  pray  thee,  the  wisdom 
that  is  from  above.  Strengthen  thou  the  heart  of  the 
pastor  when  difficulties  seem  to  lie  in  his  path  ;  give 
him  all  the  strength  he  requires  for  the  ministry  unto 
which  thou  hast  called  him.  Let  him  never  labor  in 
his  own  wisdom  or  power,  but  bring  him  from  Sab- 
bath to  Sabbath  to  this  place  endued  with  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  let  the  gospel  be  accompanied  with  the 
mighty  power  of  God ;  so  shall  it  be  effectual  to 
enlighten,  to  convince,  to  convert,  to  build  up  and  to 
prepare  the  people  for  glory.  May  his  soul  be 
cheered  and  sustained,  and  during  all  the  days  of  his 
pilgrimage  may  he  in  his  soul  feel  that  God  is  merci- 
ful, and  that  he  is  blessing  him  and  the  labor  to 
which  he  has  been  called. 

May  thy  servants,  the  eldership  in   this  place,  be 
men   of  prayer,  of  great  wisdom,  of  much   kindness 


32  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

and  gentleness,  loving  their  pastor,  loving  and  kind  to 
all  the  people;  may  they,  united,  be  helps  to  the  min- 
istry such  as  they  ought  to  be.  And  may  those  that 
are  in  the  membership  of  the  church  feed  upon  the 
gospel  and  grow  in  grace,  and  lay  themselves  out  for 
godly  service,  doing  the  will  and  mind  of  God,  as 
here  taught  from  Sabbath  to  Sabbath ;  may  they  live 
for  God — not  only  with  God,  but  for  God — and  so 
may  they,  in  their  day  and  generation,  be  a  law  unto 
all  around  them,  commending  the  gospel  to  the  world 
lying  in  sin  and  wickedness. 

We  entreat  thee,  Lord,  grant  a  gracious  outpouring 
of  thy  Spirit  from  time  to  time  upon  thy  servants  in 
this  city.  Yea,  may  they  all  be  baptized  in  their 
households,  that  their  households  may  be  Bethels ; 
may  fathers  and  mothers  be  faithful  to  their  covenant 
vows;  may  they  see  to  it  that  in  the  discharge  of 
every  duty  they  have  undertaken  they  shall  look  for 
the  blessing,  and  wait  and  long  for  it,  that  when  they 
go  hence  they  may  leave  behind  them  households 
trained  in  faith  and  nurture  of  the  Lord. 

We  entreat  thee,  bless  all  connected  with  this 
church  wherever  the  members  or  families  may,  in  thy 
providence,  have  been  carried  ;  follow  them  with  thy 
blessing ;  direct  them  in  all  the  work  of  their  hands. 
And   let  thy  blessing   rest  upon  the  pastors  brought 


OF  FBANKFORD.  33 

together  here,  this  day,  on  this  interesting  occasion. 
Thou  knowest  what  we  need  ;  thou,  wlio  hast  called 
us  unto  thy  service,  who  hast  put  us  into  the  vine- 
yard, Lord,  Lord,  thou  searcher  of  the  hearts  of  the 
children  of  men,  thou  who  goest  through  Jerusalem 
as  with  lighted  candles,  and  knowest  every  thought 
and  feeling  of  thy  people's  souls,  knowest  our  difficul- 
ties, our  weaknesses,  when  and  why  we  ffiint  in  thy 
service;  oh  !  let  thine  arm  uphold,  let  thine  hand  lead 
us,  let  thy  grace  enrich  our  souls,  and  leave  us  not, 
Lord,  to  yield  or  faint  under  the  difficulties  of  our 
ministry,  but  let  thy  blessing  from  day  to  day  descend 
upon  us,  that  as  our  duties  are  we  may  have  strength 
from  thee.  Bless  those  to  whom  we  minister;  add 
many  to  their  number  of  such  as  believe.  Help  us. 
Lord,  that  we  may  be  faithful  in  all  the  duties  to 
which  we  are  called ;  and  so  may  thy  cause  abun- 
dantly prosper  in  our  hands.  Let  thy  blessing  rest 
upon  all  that  from  our  church  are  going  forth  to  the 
desolations  of  this  mighty  land,  that  they  may  feel  that 
God  is  with  them  in  the  labor  to  which  they  have  de- 
voted themselves.  Give  them  wisdom  and  strength  for 
their  mission,  and  be  helpful  unto  them  from  day  to 
day,  and  so  may  thy  cause  mightily  prosper  and  prevail. 
We  vvould  carry  upon  our  hearts  to  thy  footstool 
our  brethren  who  have  g-one  to  the  heathen.     Thou 


34  THE  PEESB  YTERIAN  CHURCH 

knoNvest  all  that  they  feel  when  they  look  out  upon 
the  millions  around  them,  engrossed  with  the  world, 
living  in  its  lust,  burdened  with  its  sin,  and  yet  dark, 
and  cold,  and  dead,  and  unbelieving !  Father,  we 
pray  thee  sustain  them  in  the  Avork  to  which  they 
have  given  themselves.  Remember,  Lord,  thy  agony 
of  Calvary;  remember  the  covenant,  the  promise ;  let 
the  time  soon  come  wdien  the  heathen  shall  indeed  be 
given  to  Christ,  and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth 
be  his  for  a  sure  possession. 

Hold  not  back.  Lord,  the  blessing  from  thy  servants 
because  of  the  prayerlessness,  the  unbelief  and  apathy 
in  the  Church  in  this  and  other  lands ;  and  when  thy 
servants,  that  have  gone  in  obedience  to  thy  call, 
remember  how  little  sympathy  is  felt,  how  little 
interest  is  displayed,  by  those  who  have  professed 
to  be  thine,  let  not  their  hearts  faint,  but  carry  them 
on  in  their  duty,  and  give  them  thy  blessing,  we 
beseech  thee ;  and  let  the  evidence  that  thou  art  the 
same,  blessing  the  world  by  the  agency  appointed — 
the  evidence  that  thou  art  still  faithful  and  gracious, 
awake  the  Church  to  a  clearer  view  of  its  great  high 
mission  to  evangelize  the  world.  Hasten  the  time  when 
thy  Church,  thus  awakened,  shall  be  altogether  glorious, 
and  thy  people  in  every  land  shall  address  themselves 
to  the  work  of  making  known  the  blessed  gospel  of  God. 


OF  FBANKFORD.  35 

We  entreat  thee  be  very  merciful  unto  us ;  forgive 
our  offences  ;  wherein  we  do  that  we  ought  not  to  do, 
deal  not  with  us  as  we  provoke  thee.  Wash  us  iu  the 
blood  that  cleanseth  from  sin ;  keej)  us  in  thy  fear ;  be 
helpful  according  to  the  cries  of  our  necessities ;  and 
enable  us  to  live  so  that  when  w^e  pass  hence,  w^e  may 
have  a  clear  title  and  abundant  meetness  for  the  rest 
and  inheritance  of  Jesus. 

And  now  we  commit  unto  thee  the  sick  and  afflicted. 
We  pray  for  all  that  are  in  tribulation  and  distress  ; 
w^e  commend  unto  thee  the  dying,  those  who  are  now 
near  to  Jordan ;  oh,  that  their  eyes  may  be  enlightened, 
that  doubts,  and  apprehensions,  and  fears,  may  pass 
away,  and  that  with  the  soul  strengthened  and  the 
spirit  waiting,  they  may  be  enabled  to  say,  ^'  I  know 
whom  I  have  believed,  and  am  persuaded  that  he  is 
able  to  keep  that  which  I  have  committed  unto  him 
against  that  day ; "  and  so.  Lord,  from  pain,  and 
weakness,  and  fainting,  may  they  pass  unto  the  better 
land  and  behold  Him  who  has  loved  them  and  washed 
them  in  his  blood. 

Thus,  Lord,  we  pray  thee,  bless  us,  yea,  each  of  us ; 
and  when  the  time  shall  come  that  we  shall  feel  the 
dissolution  of  nature,  then  may  the  Lord  be  very 
precious,  and  may  our  souls  be  filled  with  the  peace  of 
God  that  passeth  all  understanding;  and  when  the  eye 


36  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CHURCH 

shall  be  closed  in  death,  may  our  souls  awake  in  the 
New  Jerusalem,  and  there  be  prepared  for  joining  in 
the  song  of  Moses  and  the  Lamb,  "  Unto  him  that 
loved  us  and  washed  us."  All  that  we  ask  is  for 
Jesus'  sake.     Amen. 


Y. 

INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS. 

BY   THE    REV.    GEORGE    W.    MUSGRAVE,    D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

My  Christian  friends,  I  accepted  promptly  the  invita- 
tion of  the  pastor  to  be  present  on  this  occasion,  be- 
cause I  knew  that  it  was  not  likely  I  should  be  asked 
to  take  any  part  in  the  secoyid  centennial  anniversary 
of  this  church;  so  it  was  now  or  never.  But,  aside 
from  that,  it  is  some  gratification  to  meet  with  Chris- 
tian people  on  such  an  occasion  as  this,  so  rare  at  least 
in  this  new  country  of  ours.  How  few  churches  there 
are  in  this  land  that  can  celebrate  their  first  centenary 
anniversary !  The  great  majority  of  our  churches 
have  been  organized  within  half  a  century,  and 
multitudes  of  them  are  not  yet  out  of  their  teens ; 
and  some  that  existed  a  long  while  ago  have  become 
extinct,  and  are  known  only  in  tlieir  brief,  and,  in 
some  respects,  melancholy  history.     I  know  it  is  hard 


OF  FRANKFORT).  37 

to  kill  a  Presbyterian  Church,  it  is  such  a  sturdy 
plant ;  and  yet  we  must  acknowledge  that  some  few 
have  died,  and  then  others  again  have  so  changed 
their  character  and  location  that  their  identity  seems 
to  be  almost  lost.  You  can  hardly  believe  that  the 
churches  that  once  stood  at  certain  points  are  the  same, 
now  in  the  distance.  Not  only  is  the  location  changed, 
but  also  there  are  very  few  of  the  descendants  of  the 
men  who  organized  the  church  and  nursed  it  in  its 
infancy  to  be  found;  but  here  we  celebrate  the  cen- 
tenary anniversary  of  a  church  that  occupies,  not 
precisely  the  same  building  to  be  sure,  for  this  beau- 
tiful house  is  comparatively  new,  but  the  same  old 
site.  Here  we  stand  upon  the  same  hallowed  ground 
where  our  fathers  erected  their  altars,  and  where  per- 
haps among  those  who  are  now  present,  are  those 
whose  grandfathers  knelt  and  worshipped  our  cove- 
nant God. 

I  have  sometimes  regretted  that  our  churches  were 
not  more  stable  in  some  respects;  that  the  houses 
which  are  erected  at  the  beginning  should  be  so 
ephemeral,  intended  merely  for  a  temporary  occupation. 
How  different  it  is  in  the  Old  Country !  There  you 
see  the  venerable  piles  that  have  stood  for  centuries, 
and,  in  some  instances,  you  have  the  name  of  the 
family  on  the  pew-door,  where  generations  successively 


38  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CHUB  CH 

have  worshipped  God.  Oh,  what  hallowed  associa- 
tions are  thus  connected  with  the  house  of  God ! 
How  strong  must  be  the  tie  that  binds  the  family  to 
such  a  sanctuary,  when  they  go  to  the  same  slip  that 
theii*  fathers  and  grandfathers  occupied,  and  the  family 
name  is  engraven  upon  the  plate  at  the  entrance  of  the 
slips !  I  say,  I  have  sometimes  regretted  that  we 
should  have  buildings  so  temporary  in  their  character 
and  use.  I  would  that  our  sanctuaries  were  built  for 
centuries,  and  that  the  people  might  come  through 
successive  generations  to  the  same  house, — the  same 
families  occupying  the  same  pews.  I  think  it  would 
be  a  great  gratification,  and  would  have  a  moral  influ- 
ence exceedingly  precious.  But  of  course,  in  this  new 
country  and  with  a  population  constantly  shifting, 
we  cannot  have  such  stability  as  is  witnessed  in  the 
fatherland. 

But  it  is  not  only  exceedingly  interesting  to  mem- 
bers of  this  church  to  come  up  here  and  celebrate 
their  centenary  anniversary,  but  it  is  grateful  also  to 
every  Christian  and  to  every  enlightened  people.  We 
could  not  say  this  if  the  character  of  this  church  was 
different  from  what  it  is;  for  there  are  some  institu- 
tions called  religious,  some  sects  called  Christians,  that 
have  no  religion  and  no  Christianity,  and  vve  would 
not  only  take  no  interest  in  celebrating  the  anniver- 


OF  FRANKFORD.  39 

sary  of  such  a — cliurch,  shall  I  call  it? — but,  we 
would  also  conscientiously  abstain  from  countenancing 
it.  What  Protestant  would  take  any  interest  in  the 
anniversary  of  a  Papal,  Socinian,  or  Unitarian  Church? 
No,  we  rejoice  on  this  occasion  because  we  are  cele- 
brating the  anniversary  of  an  evangelical  church, 
an  orthodox  Presbyterian  Church,  holding  the  grand 
doctrines  of  the  Reformation,  the  glorious  truths  of 
revelation,  so  honoring  to  God,  so  strengthening  and 
comforting  and  sanctifying  to  God's  people; — truths 
which  have  been  instrumental  in  the  conversion  and 
salvation  of  millions.  Aye,  it  is  because  this  church 
has  maintained  its  doctrinal  purity,  its  evangelical 
spirit,  that  we  so  rejoice  at  its  centennial  anniversary. 
How  melancholy  the  history  of  some  churches ! 
even  those  that  were  once  orthodox.  Alas  !  alas ! 
even  some  of  the  churches  in  which  Calvin  preached 
and  in  which  Luther  ministered — where  the  reformers 
proclaimed  the  gospel,  even  in  those  very  houses  there 
are  Socinianism  and  Rationalism  proclaimed.  And  so 
in  our  own  country,  young  as  it  is,  in  New  England, 
in  the  city  of  Boston,  some  of  those  old  churches  once 
resounded  with  the  pure  doctrine  of  the  trinity,  the 
doctrines  of  the  gospel,  that  are  now  corrupted  into  a 
low  Unitarianism.  Thank  God  that  this  Frankford 
Church,  with  others  around  here,  has,  for  the  century, 


40  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CHURCH 

maintained  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  and  preserved 
its  evangelical  spirit.  Oh,  that  is  its  glory  !  that  is 
primarily  at  what  we  rejoice  on  such  an  occasion  as 
this. 

But  it  is  a  Presbyterian  Church  ;  and  not  only  as 
Christians,  but,  as  I  intimated,  also  as  citizens,  we 
rejoice  in  its  continuance ;  for  Presbyterians  have  the 
old  form,  and  through  all  the  past  ages  have  been  the 
staunch  friends  and  defenders  of  civil  liberty.  AVhy, 
all  that  this  world  now  enjoys  o^  freedom  it  owes  to 
the  Presbyterian  Church.  Yes,  wdiat  would  Great 
Britain  be  to-day  but  for  the  Puritans  and  Calvin  and 
the  Presbyterian  Scotch  and  Irish?  Who  does  not 
know  that  our  own  government  has  been  modeled 
after  our  Presbyterian  government?  We  rejoice  in 
the  anniversary  of  such  a  church  because  we  are 
patriots,  and  rejoice  that  as  long  as  there  is  a  Presby- 
terian Church  on  earth  there  will  be  one  friend  and 
champion  of  religious  freedom. 

Moreover,  we  are  interested  in  this  anniversary  too 
on  account  of  the  catholicity  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  This  is  another  excellence  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian denomination — that  she  is  one  of  the  most  catho- 
lic of  all  her  sister  Protestant  denominations.  She 
recognizes  every  child  of  God  as  a  Christian  brother 
or  sister.     She  recognizes  every  minister  of  Christ  as 


OF  FRA  NKFORD.  41 

an  ambassador  of  God.  She  does  not  unchurch  any 
man  that  is  a  Christian.  Why,  even  our  Episcopal 
brethren  must  acknowledge  that  in  this  respect  we 
have  the  advantage;  for,  though  we  claim  to  have 
apostolic  succession,  and  our  Church  association  fairly 
represents  the  original  form  of  the  Christian  Cliurch, 
thouof-h  we  believe  that  our  ordination  is  the  most 
scriptural,  and  that  Episcopal  diocesans,  Episcopal  or- 
dinations are  unwarranted  in  Scripture,  yet  we  do  not 
unchurch  our  Episcopal  brethren.  We  would  preach 
for  them  if  they  would  ask  us.  We  ask  them  into 
our  pulpits,  and  sometimes  thay  do  come ;  we  invite 
them  to  our  communion-table — we  do  not  exclude 
them,  though  they  attempt  to  exclude  us. 

^j  the  way,  I  feel  I  must  tell  you  an  anecdote; 
shall  I  ?  Well,  there  was  an  Episcopal  gentleman  in 
New  York,  that  frequently  invited  a  Presbyterian 
in  the  neighborhood,  to  go  and* hear  one  of  their 
distinguished  clergymen,  and  he  went ;  then  the  Pres- 
byterian respectfully  returned  the  compliment,  and 
wanted  his  Episcopal  friend  to  go  and  hear  some 
distinguished  Presbyterian  minister ;  he  declined, 
saying,  he  did  not  recognize  his  friend's  minister  as 
having  been  lawfully  ordained.  A  few  weeks  after, 
the  Episcopal  friend  asked  his  Presbyterian  neighbor 
to  go  with  him  again  to  hear  a  distinguished  Episcopal 

4* 


42  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

preacher.  "  Why,"  said  the  Presbyterian,  '^  I  cannot 
do  it,  sir."  Well,  why  not?"  ''Why,  I  cannot 
recognize  that  man's  ministry."  "  Why  not  ? " 
"Because  he  has  not  been  scripturally  ordained." 
"Why,  how  so?"  said  the  Episcopalian.  "Why, 
sir,"  answered  the  Presbyterian,  "  I  do  not  read  in 
the  Bible  about  bishops  ordaining  men,  but  I  do  read 
about  the  ordaining  of  men  by  the  laying  on  of  the 
hands  of  the  presbytery ;  and  as  that  gentleman  was 
not  ordained  by  a  presbytery,  I  cannot  recognize  the 
validity  of  his  ordination."  Well,  that  was  turning 
the  tables  upon  his  friend.  He  ought  to  have  known, 
however,  that  the  Episcopalians  very  properly  ordain 
by  presbyteries  after  all.  You  never  knew  a  bishop 
ordain  a  man  single-handed ;  he  always  has  one  or  two 
presbyters  to  present  the  candidate  and  unite  in  the 
services ;  and  so,  after  all,  it  is  ordination  by  the 
presbytery,  and  hcHce  we  can  consistently  recognize  it 
as  scriptural. 

And  so  it  is  with  the  Baptists.  They  insist  upon  it 
that  a  roan  must  be  immersed,  otherwise  he  cannot 
come  to  the  Lord's  table.  We  believe  affusion  to  be 
the  scriptural  mode  ;  we  are  sure  of  it,  and  know  that 
for  centuries  it  was  the  practice  of  the  Church  uni- 
versally;  nevertheless,  we  w^ill  not  quarrel  with  our 
Baptist    brethren ;    we    allow    them     to    have    their 


I 

OF  FRANKFORD.  43 

opinion,  practise  as  they  think  best,  but  we  do  not 
unchurch  them  ;  we  exchange  pulpits  with  them 
whenever  they  let  us,  and  invite  them  to  the  Lord's 
table  with  us  though  they  will  not  let  us  come  to 
theirs.  In  short  the  Presbyterian  Church  is  one  of 
the  most  liberal,  catholic  churches  upon  earth.  While 
it  maintains  firmly  its  own  doctrine  and  polity,  it 
recoo-nizes  Christ's  imao-e  anvwhere,  takes  by  the  hand 
every  true  Christian,  welcomes  him  to  its  bosom  and 
communes  with  him.  Yes,  and  as  a  people  how -ready 
we  are  to  co-operate  with  all  other  evangelical  sects ! 
Read  the  history  of  voluntaryism,  and  you  will  find 
Presbyterians,  after  all,  are  their  main  supporters. 
Your  Bible,  and  Tract,  and  Sunday-school  Union  and 
what-not  —  where  does  the  money  come  from  but 
mainly  from  the  Presbyterian  Church  ?  And  so  she 
shows  her  liberality  and  her  catholicity  by  bidding 
God-speed  to  all  his  people  and  heartily  co-operating 
with  them  in  every  good  work  and  word. 

Now,  I  say,  a  church  so  pure,  so  scriptural,  so 
liberal  and  catholic,  ought  to  command  the  warmest 
affection  of  every  true  patriot ;  and  hence  this  anni- 
versary gives  us  pleasure,  because  wc  may  show  our 
gratitude  and  thanksgiving  to  God  that  this  good  old 
church  still  exists  and  maintains  its  purity  and  gospel 
spirit.      The    Lord    help    you   to    maintain    it.      lie- 


44  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

member  to-day  you  are  making  history.  Did  you 
hear  it  ?  You  who  are  members  of  this  church  are 
every  day,  every  year,  making  history  for  this 
church — for  the  next  century  will  be,  under  God,  very 
much  what  you  make  it.  What  shall  its  history  be 
when  its  second  centennial  anniversary  shall  be  ob- 
served ?  Shall  the  orators  on  that  occasion  be  able  to 
commend  this  church  for  its  continued  fidelity?  Shall 
the  people  of  God  rejoice  that  for  two  hundred  years 
the  church  of  Frankford  has  maintained  its  integrity  ? 
I  trust  in  God  it  will  be  so.  Cultivate,  then,  the 
spirit  of  God's  truth,  the  spirit  of  true  holiness,  the 
spirit  of  earnest  piety.  As  members  of  this  church 
take  a  holy  pride  in  her  history  ;  try  to  improve  it,  if 
practicable  ;  to  make  it  still  more  distinguished  and 
successful.  God  grant  that  when  the  second  centen- 
nial anniversary  arrives,  the  church  then  existing  may 
be  able  to  commend  the  church  of  Frankford  for  its 
fidelity  to  Christ  and  to  his  cause. 


YI. 
ANTHEM. 

"  THE  LORD  IS  KING." 

Chorus : 

The  Lord  is  King,  The  Lord  is  King, 

The  Lord  is  King,  and  hath  put  on  glorious  apparel. 


OF  FRANKFORD.  45 

And  girded  Himself  with  strength. 

He  hath  made  the  round  world  so  sure,  that  it  cannot  be  moved 

Duett  : 

Ever  since,  Ever  since  the  world  began,  hath  Thy  seat  been 
prepared. 

Ever  since  the  world  began.  Thou  art,  from  everlasting  to 
everlasting. 

Bass  Solo  : 

The  floods  are  risen, 
0  Lord,  The  floods  lift  up  their  voice, 
The  floods  lift  up  their  waves, 
The  waves  of  the  sea  are  mighty, 
And  rage  horribly, 
But  yet  the  Lord  that  dwelleth  on  high  is  mightier. 

Recitative  Tenor  : 
Thy  testimonies  0  Lord  are  sure,  very  sure. 

Chorus  : 
Holiness,  Holiness,  becometh  Thy  house,  for  ever  and  ever. 
Amen. 


YII. 
HISTORICAL  ADDRESS. 

BY    THE    TvEV.    THOMAS   MURPHY,    PASTOR. 

Why  do  we  celebrate  this  handredth  year  of  our 
Church,  and  write  the  history  of  the  way  in  which 
God  has  led   it?     Because  great  is  the  gratitude   we 


46  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CHTJR  CH 

owe  him  for  liaviug  kept  in  existence  so  long  this 
branch  of  his  Zion,  and  having  favored  it  with  such 
a  measure  of  prosperity.  Because  the  completion  of 
a  century  of  a  church's  history  is  a  great  event  in 
itself — but  a  few  times  before  has  such  an  event  oc- 
curred in  this  city.  Because  there  is  a  wholesome 
curiosity  that  would  carry  us  back  into  the  past,  and 
receives  its  highest  gratification  in  tracing  the  foot- 
steps of  those  who  have  gone  before.  Because  we  owe 
too  much  to  those  who  have  sent  down  to  us  the 
heritage  we  now  possess,  to  forget  them  in  a  short 
time.  We  would  save  their  honored  names  from 
sinking  into  oblivion.  We  would  speak  of  what  they 
^vere  and  what  they  have  done  as  the  great  roll  of  the 
centuries  moves  on.  Because  we  would  learn  to  prize 
more  highly  the  blessing  which  has  been  given  us  in  a 
church,  with  its  ordinances  unimpaired,  its  doctrines 
uncorrupted,  and  its  testimony  for  tlie  truth  unbroken 
for  a  hundred  years.  And  we  would  write  this 
history,  because  from  it  we  would  receive  a  new  and 
stronger  impulse  to  preserve  this  Church,  improve  its 
privileges,  and  send  down  its  blessings,  in  all  their 
richness,  to  the  generations  that  are  coming.  If  there 
shall  be  some  tediousness  in  detailing  events  and 
recording  names,  I  am  sure  that  the  importance  of  the 
object  in  view  will  be  a  sufficient  apology.     I  would 


OF  FBANKFORD.  47 

then  trace  the  ordering  of  God's  providence,  in  the 
history  of  this  Church,  during  the  past  hundred  years. 
I  would  record  the  names  of  many  of  the  honored  ones 
who  maintained  its  interests  and  shared  its  fortunes. 
I  would  mark  the  great  epochs  which  measure  its 
past  journey.  I  would  dwell  upon  its  progress  from 
the  very  smallest  beginning,  to  what  it  is  to-day. 

There  are  five  well-marked  periods  in  the  hundred 
years'  history  of  this  Church,  and  by  keeping  these  in 
mind  it  w411  be  better  understood  and  remembered. 

The  first  period  was  from  the  laying  of  the  corner- 
stone of  the  original  building  on  May  4th,  1770,  until 
the  year  1802.  During  these  thirty-two  years  it  was 
connected  with  the  German  Reformed  body,  and  its  ser- 
vices were  conducted  mainly  in  the  German  language. 

The  second  period  was  from  1802  to  1809.  This 
was  a  season  of  weakness  and  transition.  During  this 
period  the  Church  passed  from  its  original  connection 
until  it  was  completely  organized  as  Presbyterian. 

The  third  period  was  from  1809  to  1831 — a  space 
of  twenty-two  years — which  embraced  the  pastorates 
of  the  Rev.  John  Doak  and  the  Re\^  Thomas  Biggs. 

The  fourth  period  extended  from  1831  to  1838. 
During  this  short  period  of  seven  years  the  church 
was  in  an  unsettled  state,  with  several  short  pastorates. 

The  fifth  period  was  from    1838   until   the  present 


48  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

time.  At  that  date  the  Rev.  W.  D.  Howard  com- 
menced his  pastoral  services ;  and  there  have  since  been 
thirty-two  years  of  quiet  and  uninterrupted  progress. 

In  tracing  the  history  of  the  Church  through  these 
years  we  have  as  our  guides,  our  records — in  the 
earlier  periods  very  scanty, — the  records  of  the  Presby- 
tery of  Philadelphia,  the  Baptismal  and  Marriage 
regi"&ter  of  the  old  Market  Square  Church  in  German- 
town,  the  traditions  of  the  past,  the  memory  of  the 
aged,  and  other  unexpected  sources  of  information.  I 
must  especially  mention  the  assistance  rendered  me  by 
Mr.  John  Deal,  now  the  oldest  elder  and  trustee  of 
the  Church.  He  has  been  most  intimately  connected 
with  all  its  affairs  for  the  last  forty  or  fifty  years, 
and  his  clear  and  affectionate  remembrance  of  them 
has  served  as  an  invaluable  guide  in  these  years  of  its 
history.  Consulting  all  these  and  comparing  their 
various  teachings  we  have  probably  gotten  very  near 
to  the  facts  in  most  cases. 

It  will  give  interest  to  this  history  to  glance  at  the 
state  of  the  community  at  the  time  when  it  originated. 
We  cannot  well  understand  its  beginning  without 
this.  When  the  corner-stone  of  the  old  edifice  was 
laid  no  railroad  had  ever  been  constructed,  no  steam- 
boat had  ever  floated.  At  that  time  no  American  ves- 
sel of  any  kind    had  ever  sailed  on  Chinese  waters; 


OF  FRAXKFORD.  49 

At  the  time  when  its  foundations  were  laid  Europe  was 
agitated  by  the  division  of  Poland.  In  this  country  the 
British  troops  had  just  occupied  Boston;  mutterings 
of  discontent  with  English  rule  w^re  heard  through- 
out the  colonies.  Patrick  Henry,  Adams,  and  Han- 
cock were  beginning  to  promote  the  Revolution. 
Whitefield  died  the  very  year  the  corner-stone  was 
laid,  and  Wesley  was  then  in  his  prime. 

There  was  a  bright  array  of  English  authors  then 
penning  their  immortal  works — amongst  them — Gold- 
smith, Johnson,  Blackstone,  Burke,  Cowper,  Burns 
and  others.  This  city  of  Philadelphia  had  then  but  a 
very  small  population.  It  was  not  larger  than 
Lancaster  is  to-day.  Frankford  has  now  two-thirds 
as  many  people  as  the  whole  city  had  then.  All  the 
churches  in  the  city  then  were — four  Presbyterian, 
three  Episcopal,  two  Catholic,  two  Lutheran,  and 
Methodist,  Baptist,  Moravian,  German  Calvinist,  and 
Swedish  Lutheran — each  one.  This  was  all — but  two 
or  three  more  than  are  in  Frankford  to-day.  In 
Frankford  itself  there  was  then  but  one  place  of  wor- 
ship— the  old  Friends'  Meeting  House — the  second 
in  the  state — a  wooden  structure,  which  five  years 
afterwards — in  1775 — gave  place  to  the  present  brick 
building  on  Unity  Street. 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  tiiese  years  that  our  Church 
5 


50  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CHUR  CH 

was  founded.  Its  founders  were,  most  of  them, 
Swiss,  from  the  city  of  Basle.  A  few  of  them  were 
of  the  original  German  settlers  of  Germantown  and 
all  this  region.  They  therefore  commenced  it  as  a 
German  Calvinist,  or  German  Reformed  Church,  with 
all  its  services  and  all  its  records  in  the  German  lan- 
guage. 

The  only  important  document  we  have  remaining 
to  us  of  the  first  period — the  period  of  thirty-two 
years — the  period  during  which  the  Church  continued 
German  Reformed — is  a  sort  of  dedicatory  record. 
It  is  in  German.  In  order  that  its  very  spirit  may 
remain,  I  will  give  it  as  it  was  translated  by  a  Ger- 
man— in  the  exact  idiom  of  the  original. 

"  In  the  name  of  the  Holy  Trinity.  Amen.  VVhereas  it  has 
pleased  the  Almighty  and  All-wise  God  through  His  providence 
and  His  Holy  Ghost,  to  inspire  the  following  persons,  viz  : 
George  Castor,  Sr.,  Henry  Kohrer,  Sr.,  Rudolph  Neff  and  Sirach 
Schudy  to  build  a  house  for  the  glory  of  His  holy  Name : 
Therefore,  these  above-named  persons,  with  their  friends,  have 
consulted  together  about  the  undertaking  of  this  great  work  ; 
and  the  following  persons,  viz. :  Frederick  Castor,  Rudolph 
Mawrerer,  Jacob  Zebly,  Jacob  Myer,  have  joined  them  to  help 
with  heart  and  hand  and  deed  to  carry  out  the  above  measure. 
The  beginning  of  this  was  undertaken  by  the  above-named 
persons,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1769,  in  the  month  of  January 
in  the  purchase  of  a  lot  for  a  burial-ground.  But  after  this 
through  the  help  of  God,  and  the  many  friends  and  patrons, 


OF  FRANKPORD.  \  51 

whose  names  will  be  found  in  the  minute  books,  and  to  whom 
we  and  our  successors  will  owe  the  most  sincere  thanks,  it  was 
resolved  that  a  church  should  be  built  on  the  said  burial- 
ground,  and  the  work  thereof  was  commenced  in  April,  1770. 

We  can  well  affirm  that  the  progress  of  this  building  was 
conducted  in  a  desired  manner,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  in  great 
harmony,  in  a  peaceful  and  untiring  effort.  On  the  fourth  of 
May,  in  the  same  year,  the  corner-stone  was  laid  by  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Foehring.  Since  the  church  is  not  entirely  out  of  debt,  as 
you  will  see  in  the  minutes  and  records,  as  well  as  from  the 
receipts  of  Rudolph  Neflf  and  Frederick  Castor;  we  therefore 
felt  constrained  to  present  a  correct  account  and  full  statement 
of  all,  that  our  descendants  and  all  who  shall  be  interested 
might  have  a  record  which  they  could  examine  in  the  future. 
AVherefore,  we  say  to  those  who  will  follow  us,  be  careful  and 
wise ;  be  on  your  guard — so  that  you  may  mcrease  as  well  as 
enlarge  your  numbers  ;  and  never  get  tired  of  keeping  this 
building  in  good  repair.  We  wish  you  therefore  good  success. 
'  0  Jerusalem,  Lift  up  your  heads,  0  ye  gates  ;  and  be  ye  lifted 
up,  ye  everlasting  doors  ;  and  the  King  of  glory  shall  come  in.' 
Now  God  Almighty,  Creator  of  the  universe,  we  commend  to 
thee  this  house  which  we  have  built  in  thy  holy  name  and  for  the 
glory  of  God.  Keep  m  thy  hands  and  protection  those  who 
shall  meet  in  it.  Destroy  all  false  doctrines  and  all  that  is 
intended  to  destroy  thy  word.  Give  now  and  forever  thy  grace, 
peace  and  unity,  and  thine  shall  be  the  praise  and  thanks, 
honor  and  glory,  now  and  forever.     A7nen.'' 

This  devout  and  very  important  document  is 
written  in  a  beautiful  hand  at  the  begin'ning  of  what 
was    intended   for   a   Book   of    Records;    but,    alas, 


52  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CHUB CH 

excepting  some  accounts,  it  is  the  last  record  made  for 
thirty-two  years,  whilst  the  Church  was  German 
Reformed.  We  must  pause  to  look  at  the  honored 
names  with  which  this  Church  originated  : — George 
Castor,  Rudolph  Neff,  Henry  Rohrer,  Sirach  Shudy. 
Excepting  the  last,  their  descendants  are  still  with  us. 
The  first  is  grandfather  of  another  George  Castor,  to 
whom  the  Church  is  more  indebted  than  to  any  other 
man.  And  with  them  were  other  names  not  to  be 
forgotten,  some  of  whose  descendants  are  still  promi- 
nent in  the  Church.  Jacob  Myer  (now  Myers), 
Rudolph  Mowrer,  Jacob  Zebley,  and  Frederick 
Carster  (now  Castor),  son  of  George.  Their  names 
must  never  be  forgotten  while  this  Church  stands.  It 
is  believed  that  all  these  had  either  come  from  Swit- 
zerland or  were  of  Swiss  descent.  We  must  also  put 
on  record  the  names  of  some  others  of  those  who  by 
their  contributions  helped  to  erect  the  original  edifice. 
Among  them  we  find  Samuel  Neswinger,  Rudolph 
Shutz,  Leonard  Froelich,  Yost  Myers,  Jacob  Madeira, 
Jacob  Schmid,  Jacob  Mag,  David  Bleuh,  Christopher 
Bender,  Frederick  Scheibly,  George  Wilkins,  Edward 
Steils,  Jacob  Geisse,  Leonard  Kauifmann,  Alexander 
Edwards,  Ulric  NeflP,  and  a  long  array  of  other  names 
which  we  must  omit.  All  these  helped  the  good  work. 
It  is  curious  to  know  the  dimensions  and  the  cost 


OF  FRANKFORD.  53 

of  the  original  building  before  it  was  enlarged  in 
1810.  The  record  of  these  is  found  in  fragments  of 
the  old  minutes  still  remaining.  The  church  edifice, 
as  it  was  first  erected,  was  only  forty  feet  wide  and 
thirty  feet  long.  That  made  it  just  about  one-fourth 
as  large  on  the  floor  as  this  building  in  which  we  are 
assembled.  Even  the  specific  cost  of  the  various 
articles  of  its  construction  is  preserved.  As  a 
curiosity  I  will  name  it  liere. 

£.     s.    d. 

The  stone,  lime,  sand,  hair,  and  hauling 133     2  10 

Boards,  planks,  shingles,  and  other  lumber 109     6     3 

Paint,  oil,  glass,  and  painting 27  16     8 

Mason  work  and  plastering 64  16     0 

Carpenter  and  cabinet  work 97  16     9 

Blacksmith  work  and  other  incidentals 28  17     5 

Whole  cost  of  building  when  finished 461  15  11 

or  about  two  thousand  four  hundred  dollars  ($2,400). 

For  thirty-two  years  after  its  commencement,  or 
until  1802,  we  know  but  very  little  indeed  of  the 
history  of  the  Church.  There  were  no  records  kept, 
or  if  there  w^ere,  they  are  lost.  One  or  tAvo  incidents 
loom  up  distinctly  in  the  darkness.  One  is  peculiarly 
interesting.  During  the  Revolutionary  War,  after 
the  battle  of  Trenton,  some  of  the  prisoners  captured 

in    that   engagement   were   brought   and    for   a   time 

6* 


54  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

imprisoned  in  the  old  })iiilding.  Of  this  fact  there  is 
no  doubt.  We  were  first  made  acquainted  with  it  by 
traditions  lodging  in  the  memory  of  the  aged.  But 
besides  this,  the  Eev.  D.  S.  Miller,  D.  D.,  of  the 
Episcopal  Church  in  this  place,  has  kindly  communi- 
cated the  remarkable  fact-  of  his  having  examined  a 
journal  found  lately  in  Hesse  Cassel,  Germany,  which 
had  been  written  by  a  Hessian  officer,  who  was  in  the 
battle  of  Trenton,  and  was  amongst  the  captured,  and 
states  that  they  were  imprisoned  for  a  time  in  a  church 
of  a  little  village  called  Frankfort  above  Philadelphia. 
Another  interesting  fact  of  that  early  day  was  that  the 
old  Lutheran  Church  on  the  corner  of  Church  and 
Adams  streets,  was  built  by  a  few  of  the  older 
Germans  who  broke  oflp  from  this  church,  because  the 
younger  members  insisted  on  having  occasional  ser- 
vices in  the  English  language. 

But  who  were  the  ministers  of  this  church  during 
that  first  period  of  thirty-two  years  ?  Tradition  gave 
us  the  first  clue.  Old  people  told  us  that  they  had 
heard  of  the  preachers  in  this  church  coming  from  Ger- 
mantown.  They  recollected  to  have  heard  the  names 
of  Helffenstein  and  Hermann  among  these  preachers. 
They  told  us  of  their  fathers  and  mothers  going  to 
Germantown  to  be  catechized.  This  sent  us  to  exam- 
ine the  records  of  the  Market  Square  Church — the 


OF  FBANKFORD.  55 

old  German  Reformed  Church  of  Germantown.  We 
found  their  records  to  be  mere  registers  of  baptisms, 
deaths  and  marriages.  But  if  their  preachers  offici- 
ated at  Frankford  we  ought  to  find  Frankford  names 
among  those  baptisms  and  marriages.  And  that  dis- 
covery, much  to  our  satisfaction,  we  made.  There  we 
found  the  names  of  Neffs,  and  Mowrers,  and  Zebleys, 
and  Myers  and  Froelighs.  This  seemed  to  make  the 
probability  very  strong.  But  another  fact  reduced  it 
almost  to  a  certainty.  The  minister  who  dedicated 
our  old  church  building  was  the  Eev.  Mr.  Foehring. 
Then,  as  the  thirty-two  years  of  darkness  are  broken 
in  upon  by  the  return  of  our  records  in  1802,  we  find 
a  minute  of  a  settlement  made  with  the  Kev.  Wm. 
Runkle  for  his  pastoral  services.  But  in  the  German- 
town  registers  we  find  that  the  pastor  of  that  church 
in  1770  was  the  Rev.  Christian  Frederick  Foehring, 
and  its  pastor  in  1802  was  the  Rev.  Wm.  Runkle. 
Now,  if  the  pastors  of  that  church  at  the  beginning 
and  at  the  end  of  the  period  preached  here,  and  if  Ave 
have  the  other  corroborative  evidence  already  named, 
the  conclusion  is  tolerably  certain  that  the  supplies  for 
this  church  during  all  that  period  came  from  that 
source. 

This  theory  was  afterwards  confirmed  when  we  dis- 
covered several  works  pertaining  to  the  early  ministers 


56  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CHUB CH 

of  the  Dutch  and  German  Reformed  churches  in  this 
country ;  among  them,  "  The  Fathers  of  the  Reformed 
Church,  by  the  llev.  H.  Harbaugh,"  and  ^^A  3Ianual 
of  the  Reformed    Church    in   America,    by   the   E,ev. 
Edward  T.  Corwan."     From  all  these  sources  light  is 
thrown  upon  that  early  period   of  the  church,  which 
makes  it  tolerably  plain.     Undoubtedly,  then,  the  first 
minister  of  this  church,  and  the  one  who  laid  the  cor- 
ner-stone of  its  original  edifice,  a  hundred  years  ago, 
was  the  Rev.  Christian  Frederick  Foehrino^.     His  his- 
tory  was  a  remarkable  one.    He  was  born  in  Hanover 
about  the  year  1736.     His  father  died  in  the  military 
service  of  that  country,  and  his  mother  knew  that  if 
her  son  remained  in  his  native  country,  he  also  would 
be  compelled  to  enter  the  army.     To  avoid  this,  when 
the  lad  was  seven  years  old,  she  tied  him  to  her  back, 
and,  skating  across  the  Rhine,  escaped.     With  her  son 
she  finally  reached  Germantown,  where  they  settled. 
Afterwards  Mr.  Foehring  entered  the  ministry,  and  be- 
came eminent  for  his  piety,  talents  and  success.     He 
preached  in  German,  Dutch,  and  English.     In  1779  he 
died  of  a  cold  caught  in  escaping  from  a  party  of  British 
soldiers  sent  to  capture  him  because  of  his  zeal  in  be- 
half of  liberty.     Mr.  Foehring  supplied  this  church 
only  a  short  period — probably  from  one  to  two  years. 
He  was  succeeded  in  the  church  of  Germantown  by 


OF  FRA  NKFORD.  57 

the  Rev.  J.  C.  Albertus  Helftenstein,  who  also  undoubt- 
edly ministered  to  this  church  most  of  the  time  of  his 
stay  there.  At  first  he  remained  but  three  years — from 
1772  to  1775.  Then,  after  a  pastorate  of  four  years 
in  Lancaster,  he  returned  in  1779,  and  remained  ten 
years.  Mr.  HelflPenstein  belonged  to  a  family  in  which 
there  has  been  a  succession  of  ministers  since  the  Re- 
formation. He  was  born  in  the  Palatinate.  While  on 
his  way  to  this  country,  a  severe  storm  at  sea  led  him 
to  consecrate  himself  more  entirely  to  the  service  of 
God.  His  sermons  were  very  pointed  and  stirring, 
and  his  ministry  was  greatly  blessed.  Often,  it  is 
said,  was  his  congregation  overwhelmed  by  the  mighty 
power  of  truth,  as  it  flowed  with  majesty  and  ten- 
derness from  his  heart.  He  died  of  consumption  in 
the  year  1789. 

Daring  part  of  the  interval  between  1775  and  1779, 
while  Mr.  Helffenstein  was  at  Lancaster,  the  church 
was  probably  supplied  by  the  Rev.  Samuel  Dubben- 
dorf,  then  pastor  of  the  German  Reformed  Church  of 
Germantown.  He  had  come  ov^er  from  Europe  as 
chaplain  with  the  Hessian  soldiers.  But,  afterwards 
"  through  the  plunderings  of  the  English  soldiers,  he 
lost  nearly  all  he  had,  and  amid  terror,  want  and 
famine,  saw  all  his  satisfaction  and  comfort  in  tempo- 
ral things  carried  away  as  by  a  storm.''     On  this  ac- 


58  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

count  he  left  his  field  in  Germantown  and  vicinity  after 
a  stay  of  about  two  years.  Mr.  Dubbendorf  was  a  man 
tender  and  refined  in  his  feelings,  of  strong  affections, 
and  greatly  devoted  to  the  work  of  the  ministry.  He 
was  never  married.  Neither  the  date  of  his  birth  nor 
his  age  is  recorded. 

Towards  the  latter  part  of  Mr.  Helffenstein's  pastor- 
ate— in  1787 — w^e  find,  in  an  Act  of  Incorporation, 
that  the  Rev.  Philip  R.  Pauli  was  minister  of  this 
church.  It  is  probable  that  he  became  such  in  conse- 
quence of  Mr.  Helffenstein's  declining  health.  Mr. 
Pauli  was  a  native  of  Prussia,  born  in  1742.  In  that 
country  he  was  fully  educated,  and  came  to  America 
in  1783.  Soon  afterwards  he  took  charge  of  the 
Academy  of  Philadelphia  for  six  years.  It  was  du- 
ring part  of  that  time  that  he  was  minister  of  this 
church.  Subsequently  he  became  pastor  of  the  Ger- 
man Reformed  Church  in  Reading,  Pa.,  which  he 
served  for  a  period  of  nearly  twenty-two  years.  He 
w^as  a  superior  linguist,  a  thoroughly  educated  man, 
and  an  active  and  faithful  minister  of  the  gospel.  He 
died  in  1815,  amidst  the  dee23est  sorrow  of  the  people 
to  wdiom  he  had  successfully  ministered  for  so  long  a 
time. 

The  next  minister  who  officiated  in  the  German- 
town  and  Frankford  Churches  was  the  Rev.  Lebrecht 


OF  FRANKFORD.  59 

Frederick  Hermann.  His  ministry  commenced  here 
about  1789  or  1790,  and  continued  for  twelve  years. 
I  have  found  old  people  who  still  remember  him.  In 
many  respects  he  was  a  very  remarkable  man.  He 
was  a  native  of  Germany,  and  the  last  of  the  German 
missionaries  sent  over  to  this  country  under  the  care 
of  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam.  After  leaving  his 
charge  here  he  preached  in  various  places  in  Chester, 
Montgomery  and  Berks  Counties.  No  less  than  five 
of  his  sons  entered  the  ministry  for  which  he  had 
himself  prepared  them.  During  many  of  the  last 
years  of  his  life  he  was  blind.  He  outlived  all  his 
early  friends  and  fellow-laborers,  and  died  in  1848  at 
the  age  of  over  eighty-four.  Among  his  last  words 
were  :  '^  It  is  well  with  me.  I  am  nearing  heaven — 
my  body  is  very  weak,  and  will  soon  be  dissolved ; 
but  Jesus,  my  Redeemer,  will  construct  for  me  a 
glorified  body  from  this  mass  of  corruption.'^ 

The  last  of  the  German  ministers  who  officiated 
here  was  the  Rev.  John  William  Runkle.  He  was 
pastor  of  the  Germantown  Church,  but  preached 
regularly  here  from  the  1st  of  March,  1802,  for  a  few 
years,  until  the  Church  passed  gradually  over  to  the 
Presbytery.  He  also  was  a  native  of  Germany,  came 
to  this  country  when  about  fifteen,  and  died  in  1832, 
at  the  age  of  eighty-four.     He  must  have  been  a  man 


60  THE  PRESB  YTEEIAN  CH  UR CH 

of  decided  character,  as  has  been  described.  "  He 
was  a  man  of  strong  physical  constitution,  tall  and 
raw-boned  in  person.  His  powers  of  endurance  were 
very  great.  He  was  venerable  and  patriarchal  in 
appearance,  excitable  in  temper,  warm  in  preaching, 
in  short,  a  ^son  of  thunder.' ''  He  was  in  advance  of 
his  time,  and  hence  regarded  somewhat  as  a  fanatic. 
His  preaching  was  evangelical,  apt  in  illustration,  and 
affectionate  in  appeal.  He  ever  manifested  much 
sympathy  towards  the  suffering,  visiting  also  prisoners 
and  those  under  sentence  of  death. 

Such  was  the  goodly  array  of  men  of  God,  most  of 
them  ministers  sent  from  a  distant  land,  under  the 
care  of  the  orthodox  and  pious  Christians  of  Holland, 
who  for  a  long  time  ministered  in  this  venerable 
church. 

I  must  here  state  an  interesting  fact.  The  last 
name,  recorded  in  the  Baptismal  Register  of  this 
Church  before  penning  this  history  is  that  of  a 
great-great-grand-child  of  that  Rev.  Mr.  Helffenstein 
who  probably  was  the  first  permanent  supply  of  the 
Church.  That  was  by  her  mother;  but  by  her  father 
she  is  also  the  great-great-great-grand-daughter  of  the 
Neff  who  was  one  of  the  four  originators  of  the 
Church.  For  this  reason  the  name  of  little  Catharine 
de  MonseauWakeling,  daughter  of  Edmund  de  Monseau 


OF  FRANKFORD.  61 

Wakeling,  shall  be  written  in  this  history.  I  have 
further  only  to  state  the  few  names  of  the  officers  of 
the  church  during  that  long  period  which  have  come 
down  to  us.  Of  its  elders  we  know  of  but  four,  viz. : 
Jacob  Grandsback,  the  first  on  record,  Rudolph  Neif, 
Conrad  Axe,  and  George  Castor,  first  elected  to  that 
office  in  1801,  and  holding  it  still  in  1844,  when  he 
died.  We  have,  towards  the  close  of  the  same  period, 
the  names  of  three  deacons,  viz.  :  John  Myers,  Daniel 
Peltz,  and  Henry  Castor.  All  the  trustees  of  whom 
we  know  are  John  Rohrer,  Rudolph  Neff,  Frederick 
Castor,  Joseph  Dear  man,  and  Jacob  Bener.  And  the 
old  sexton  appointed  in  1799,  and  who  held  that  office 
for  twenty  years,  was  George  Rohrer.  All  these  have 
passed  away  from  earth.  Not  one  of  them  remains. 
Only  a  few  very  aged  persons,  who  were  then  little 
children,  are  now  alive  of  all  those  who  saw  the  first 
period  of  our  Church.  All  the  others  rest  from  their 
labors  and  their  works  do  follow  them. 

The  second  period  w^as  a  short  one,  but  probably 
the  most  eventful  one  in  our  Church's  outward  his- 
tory. It  extended  from  October  2d,  1802,  until  July 
18th,  1809 — only  seven  years.  At  the  first  of  these 
dates  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  began  to  help 
the  Church ;  at  the  second  of  them  the  Rev.  John  W. 
Doak   was    installed    the   first    Presbyterian    pastor. 


62  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

This  was^  therefore,  a   period   of  weakness,  of  change, 
of  transition. 

What  were  some  of  the  events  of  the  world  occur- 
ring at  that  period?  Napoleon  Bonaparte  Avas  the 
great  name  sounding  through  the  lands.  The  first 
locomotive  engine  was  tried  in  1804.  Fulton's  first 
trial  of  a  steam-boat  was  made  in  1807.  Sunday- 
schools  had  been  established  but  ten  or  twelve  years 
before.  The  American  Board  of  Foreign  Missions 
did  not  come  into  existence  until  three  years  after- 
ward. Such  was  the  age  of  the  second  period  of  our 
church.  The  Minutes  of  the  Presbytery  of  Philadel- 
phia, October  2d,  1802,  tell  us — ^^  It  was  represented 
that  there  are  many  people  in  the  town  of  Frankford 
who  are  destitute  of  the  privileges  of  the  gospel,  and 
who  are  desirous  of  receiving  it  from  the  ministers  of 
this  Presbytery.  And  it  was  therefore  ordered  that 
the  Rev.  Messrs.  Boyd,  Milldoller,  Linn,  Potts  and 
Janeway,  each  supply  said  people  two  Sabbaths  before 
the  next  stated  meeting  of  Presbytery,  and  make 
arrangements  among  them  for  that  purpose.'^  This 
was  the  first  connection  of  Presbytery  with  the 
Church.  It  shows  that  the  Church  had  sunk  to  a 
very  low  ebb.  After  this,  five  years  pass,  the  Church 
still  retaining  its  relation  with  the  German  Re- 
formed, but  evidently  in  a  very  weak  and  struggling 


OF  FRANKFORD.  63 

state.  At  the  close  of  the  year  1802,  the  building 
was  leased  to  what  was  called  the  Church  Company, 
for  every  Sabbath  except  one  in  each  month.  That 
one  was  retained  by  the  Church  for  its  own  ser- 
vices. The  Company  seems  to  hav^e  rented  the  house 
for  the  use  of  several  other  denominations.  Tiiis 
lease  was  annulled  three  years  afterwards.  About 
1805  or  1806  the  pulpit  was  frequently  supplied 
by  a  Baptist  minister  by  the  name  of  Allison,  who 
had  charge  of  an  academy.  He  preached  with 
great  acceptance.  He  was  soon  assisted  in  the  aca- 
demy by  another  minister  of  the  same  denomina- 
tion called  Montoney.  He  also  frequently  preached. 
But  after  a  while  a  number  of  persons  united  with 
them,  and  in  1807  organized  the  Baptist  Church, 
located  formerly  on  Pine  Street,  now  on  Paul  and 
Unity  Streets,  and  which  has  since  gone  on  and  pros- 
pered until  the  present  time. 

At  first  there  were  no  pews  in  the  church.  For 
thirty-seven  years  there  was  nothing  but  benches. 
But  in  the  year  1807  by  a  great  exertion,  as  the 
Church  was  still  very  weak,  the  benches  were 
removed,  pews  erected,  and  a  new  roof  put  upon  the 
building. 

This  year,  1807,  was  a  very  important  one  in  the 
history  of  the  Church,  for  the  event  just  stated  and 


64  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

others.  It  was  in  this  year  that  it  formally  dropped 
its  connection  with  the  German  Reformed  body,  and 
became  connected  with  the  Presbyterian.  The  record 
of  this  event  is  tolerably  full.  On  the  18th  of  April, 
Mr.  George  Castor  was  appointed  to  visit  the  Presby- 
tery of  Philadelphia,  and  solicit  from  it  a  supply  of 
ministers  for  the  pulpit.  In  consequence  of  his  visit 
and  statements,  by  adjournment,  Presbytery  met  in 
this  Church  for  the  first  time  on  the  8th  of  December, 
1807.  This  was  a  memorable  meeting  in  our  annals, 
and  we  must  preserve  the  names  of  those  who  com- 
posed it.  They  are  prominent  in  the  history  of 
Presbyterianism.  They  were  the  Rev.  Messrs.  AVilliam 
Tennant,  Green,  Archibald  Alexander,  Janeway, 
Latta  and  Potts.  Before  this  meeting  w^as  laid  the 
petition  of  the  German  Reformed  Congregation  of 
Frankford — composed  of  about  thirty  families.  The 
petition  asked  that  the  congregation  be  taken  under 
care  of  Presbytery,  and  pledged  that  they  should  be 
governed  by  the  rules  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
Presbytery  being  assured  that  these  families  were 
nearly  all  that  composed  the  congregation,  and  that 
they  were  then  in  no  other  ecclesiastical  connection, 
agreed  to  take  them  under  its  care,  and  made  arrange- 
ments for  furnishing  them  supplies.  This  was  in  the 
close  of  the  year  1807,  when  the  ecclesiastical  change 


OF  FBANKFORI).  65 

was  made.  In  the  next  year  the  transfer  to  the 
Presbyterian  connection  was  legalized  by  an  act  of 
incorporation  from  the  state.  In  this  article  the 
reasons  given  for  the  change  of  connection  are  these  : 
1st.  There  were  not  enough  members  in  the  old 
connection  to  fill  the  places  of  trust  required  by  law. 
2d.  The  shades  of  difference  between  the  principles 
of  the  German  Reformed  Church  and  those  of  the 
Presbyterians  of  the  United  States  were  unimportant. 
3d.  The  ministers  of  the  gos23el  could  be  maintained 
only  in  connection  with  the  Presbyterian  Church.  To 
this  they  subscribed  with  one  mind,  and  left  us  their 
names,  forty-six  in  number. 

After  this,  one  of  the  first  acts  of  the  church  in  its 
new  connection  was  the  purchase,  in  the  same  year 
(1808),  of  the  old  Frankford  Academy,  at  the  price 
of  $2,000.  This  the  church  kept  in  operation  for  a 
great  many  years  afterwards.  Frankford  and  the 
vicinity  were  indebted  to  it  as  their  principal  place  of 
learning  for  a  long  time.  In  that  academy  many  now 
living,  but  far  more  who  are  dead,  received  that 
education,  which  but  for  the  nurturing  of  this  Church, 
they  would  never  have  reached.  This  acknowledg- 
ment is  due  to  the  wisdom  and  foresight  of  the  fathers. 
And  it  was  at  great  sacrifices  that  the  Church  main- 
tained its  academy.     The  support  of  the  Church  itselt 

6* 


66  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CHURCH 

does  not  seem  to  have  occupied  more  of  the  care  and 
struggles  of  the  trustees  than  did  the  welfare  of  their 
academy.  I  could  easily  fill  all  this  discourse  with  a 
history  of  their  efforts  to  keep  it  alive  and  prosperous. 
We  shall  not  understand  the  value  of  what  they  did 
unless  we  reflect  that  there  were  then  no  public  schools, 
and  that  consequently  the  whole  education  of  the 
community  depended  largely  on  this  institution. 

Who  were  the  trustees  and  the  other  officers  of  the 
Church  during  those  seven  eventful  years  ?  who  stood 
by  it  in  its  transition  state  ?  who  received  its  new  char- 
ter? who  established  its  institution  of  learning?  Many 
of  them  the  ancestors  of  those  who  are  with  us  to-day. 
In  addition  to  the  trustees  whom  we  have  already 
recorded  as  belonging  to  the  first  period,  we  have  now 
to  name,  Philip  Buckius,  Stephen  Decatur,  Benjamin 
Fisher,  George  Castor,  Jacob  Myers,  Jacob  Mower, 
John  H.  Worrell,  Thomas  Horton,  Frederick  Teese, 
John  Buckius,  George  C.  Troutman,  Henry  Retzer, 
Jacob  Harper  and  Ezra  Bo  win.  These  were  the  trus- 
tees in  the  order  of  their  election.  There  was  but  one 
deacon  then — Jacob  Deal.  Two  elders  were  added  to 
the  session — Philip  Buckius  and  Caleb  Earl.  There 
was  no  stated  pastor  in  the  church  in  those  years;  but 
we  are  so  fortunate  as  to  be  able  to  tell  nearly  all  who 
supplied  the  pulpit  occasionally.     From  a  receipt  ac- 


OF  FRANKFORD,  67 

cidentally  met  with  in  an  old  book  of  records,  we  learn 
that  the  Rev.  Wm,  Runkle  was  the  j^rincipal  supply 
for  two  or  three  years.  From  the  minutes  of  the 
Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  we  have  seen  that  some  of 
its  members  were  occasional  supplies.  But  for  the 
most  valuable  information  on  this  point,  we  are  in- 
debted to  an  old  book  of  accounts  found  in  a  garret. 
It  is  a  sort  of  journal  of  the  Sabbaths,  kept  by  George 
Castor,  President  and  Treasurer  of  the  Board  of  Trustees 
and  Elder  of  the  Church.  For  years  he  gives  the  names 
of  the  preachers  for  the  day,  the  amount  collected  for 
the  Church,  and  often  the  state  of  the  weather.  We 
can  hardly  over-estimate  the  value  of  this  old  book 
in  the  history.  From  this  document  we  learn  that  the 
following  persons  supplied  the  pulpit.  I  begin  with 
Dr.  Wm.  M.  Tennant,  who  preached  twenty  one  Sab- 
baths, and  give  the  others  according  to  the  frequency 
of  their  preaching.  Rev.  Mr.  Jones,  Rev.  Nathaniel 
Snowden  who  supplied  the  pulpit  not  only  then,  but 
also  at  a  subsequent  period.  Rev.  Wm.  Latta,  Rev. 
Jacob  L.  Janeway,  Rev.  Dr.  Clarkson,  Rev.  George  C. 
Potts,  Rev.  Mr.  Ervin,  Rev.  Archibald  Alexander, 
Rev.  Dr.  Wilson,  Rev.  Joseph  Eastburne,  Rev.  Dr. 
Blair,  Rev.  Mr.  Finley,  Rev.  Mr.  Helifenstein,  Rev. 
Mr.  Edwards,  Rev.  Mr.  Larzalier,  Rev.  Mr.  Boyd, 
and  several  others,  who  each  preached  but  one  Sab- 


68  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

bath.  This  is  a  precious  page  in  the  history  of  our  old 
Church.  By  the  light  of  this  old  account-book  and 
many  other  lights  which  we  have  unexpectedly  found 
to  guide  us,  we  can  look  in  upon  the  meetings  of  the 
venerable  sanctuary  on  one  of  those  Sabbaths  between 
sixty  and  seventy  years  ago,  and  almost  feel  ourselves 
among  its  members.  We  will  take  Sabbath,  the  4th 
of  June,  1807.  As  we  go  to  the  sanctuary  on  that 
bright  morning  of  the  day  of  rest,  how  different  from 
the  streets  of  Frankford  now !  There  was  but  Main 
Street  then  of  any  importance  as  a  street.  Even  its 
houses  were  sometimes  far  apart.  On  the  other  side  of 
the  way  from  us  there  were  but  four  or  five  houses 
from  Church  up  to  Orthodox  Street.  Orthodox  Street 
itself  was  only  an  avenue  of  poplar  trees  leading  back 
to  the  present  residence  of  Mr.  William  Overington, 
then  occupied  by  Mr.  Robert  Smith — afterwards  one 
of  the  elders  of  this  Church.  And  the  opening  on 
Main  Street  was  through  a  gate.  Below  Church 
Street  were  the  old'  residences  of  Ruan  and  the  pre- 
sent Womrath  property,  where  even  now  stands  the 
summer-house  in  which,  tradition  says,  the  signers  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  spent  the  afternoon  of 
the  day  on  which  they  put  their  hands  to  that  moment- 
ous document.  Besides  this  main  street  or  road,  then 
lined  only  by  post  and  rail  fence,  there  were  then  only 


OF  FRANKFORD.  69 

PauPs  Back  Lane,  now  Paul  Street,  with  eighteen  or 
twenty  houses  upon  it,  Meeting  House  Lane,  now 
Unity  Street,  and  Church  Lane,  now  Church  Street, 
with  an  orchard  where  the  Decatur  Engine  house  now 
stands,  and  only  three  houses  occupied  by  colored  fami- 
lies, as  far  back  as  the  creek,  then  crossed  by  a  log, 
and  with  a  saw-mill  on  its  bank.  Such  is  the  village 
around  you  as  you  approach  the  venerable  house  of 
worship.  You  see  others  coming  with  you — some  on 
foot,  some  on  horseback,  some  in  wagons,  some  in 
carts.  As  you  enter  the  enclosure  of  the  sanctuary, 
you  are  not  covered  by  the  venerable  trees  which  stand 
there  now.  They  are  only  saplings,  transplanted  re- 
cently from  the  woods  near  Milestown.  The  congre- 
gation now  assemble — not  more  than  forty  or  fifty 
families  in  all.  We  can  tell  you  the  names  of  most  of 
them.  There  were  the  ancestors  of  very  many  of 
the  families  who  worship  here  from  Sabbath  to  Sab- 
bath, even  now.  Among  them  were  the  old 
families  of  Buckius,  Castor,  Myers,  Teese,  Deal,  Har- 
per, Neif,  Worrell,  Rohrer,  Mowrer,  Benner,  Smith 
and  Froeligh.  There  were  Col.  Patton  and  his  fam- 
ily, then  postmaster  of  the  city,  an  office  he  had  held 
since  placed  in  it  by  President  Washington.  There 
was  Mr.  John  McAllister,  ancestor  of  the  well-known 
family  of  that  name,  still  in  the  city.     There  was  pro- 


70  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CHUR  CH 

bably  Enoch  Edwards,  brother  of  the  younger  Dr. 
Jonathan  Edwards,  from  whom  Edwards  street  de- 
rived its  name.  There  were  the  father  and  mother  of 
the  naval  hero,  Stephen  Decatur.  Many  other  dear 
names  were  there,  which  we  either  have  mentioned  or 
shall  yet  mention.  The  inside  of  the  building  itself  is 
plain  and  primitive.  There  are  simple  benches  instead 
of  pews.  The  pulpit  is  small  and  very  high.  It 
stands  not  at  the  end,  but  at  the  south  side  of  the 
church.  From  it,  on  either  side,  extend  elevated 
seats,  which  are  occupied  by  the  officers  of  the  church. 
The  walls  are  ornamented  with  tin  candlesticks.  The 
men  are  seated  on  one  side  of  the  church  and  the  wo- 
men on  the  other.  The  music  is  led  by  Mr.  Andrew 
Lockey,  a  Scotchman,  who  stands  beneath  the  pulpit, 
with  a  table  before  him,  and  lines  out  the  hymns — the 
good  old  hymns  of  Watts — as  he  sings  them  and  is  fol- 
lowed by  the  whole  assembly.  The  amount  of  the 
collection  is  two  dollars  and  thirty-five  cents.  But 
who  is  the  preacher  of  the  day  ?  No  other  than  the 
Rev.  Archibald  Alexander,  whose  name  is  still  fra- 
grant in  all  the  churches,  and  will  be  for  many  a  gene- 
ration to  come.  And  his  text  is  the  memorable  verse  of 
the  apostle  Paul — "  As  I  passed  by,  and  beheld  your 
devotions,  I  found  an  altar  with  this  inscription  :  To 
the    Unknown   God,     AYhom  therefore  ye  ignorantly 


OF  FRANKFORD.  71 

• 

worship,  him  declare  I  unto  you/^  Acts  17  :  23. 
The  great  and  good  man  is  in  his  prime,  and  we  can 
well  imagine  how  the  audience  hangs  upon  his  voice 
as  he  proclaims  the  everlasting  gospel,  or  wrestles,  as 
few  could  wrestle,  with  God  in  prayer.  Such  was  the 
worship  of  that  brief  period  whose  annals  we  record 
and  look  back  lovingly  upon,  for  one  short  moment, 
from  this  distant  age. 

The  third  period  of  our  Church's  history  begins  on 
the  18th  of  June,  1809,  when  the  Rev.  John  W. 
Doak  was  installed  its  pastor,  and  extends  twenty-two 
years  to  the  fall  of  1831,  when  the  pastorate  of  the 
Rev.  Thomas  Biggs  closed.  The  outline  of  the  his- 
tory in  that  time  is  this.  The  pastorate  of  the  Rev. 
John  W.  Doak  lasted  seven  years,  commencing  June 
18th,  1809,  and  closing  September  1st,  1816.  Then 
the  Church  for  two  years  had  no  stated  pastor.  The 
pulpit  was  filled  by  occasional  supplies.  The  old 
account  book  of  Mr.  Castor,  to  which  I  have  already 
referred,  gives  us  their  names.  Among  them  we  find 
the  Rev.  Nathaniel  Snowden,  the  Rev.  Drs.  Rogers 
and  Janeway,  Neill  and  Skinner ;  the  Rev.  Messrs. 
Belville  and  Janvier,  Latta  and  Dun  lap,  Lambert  and 
Foot  and  many  others.  On  November  10th,  1818, 
the  Rev.  Thomas  Biggs  was  installed  pastor,  and  he 
remained  thirteen  years — until  the  fall  of  1831.     It  is 


72  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

interesting  to  recall  the  important  epochs  in  the  his- 
tory and  speak  of  the  actors  in  them.  When  Mr. 
Doak  was  installed  he  was  received  from  the  Presby- 
tery of  Abington  in  Virginia  ;  at  his  installation,  the 
Rev.  Jacob  L.  Janeway  D.  D.,  presided,  the  Rev. 
James  P.  Wilson  D.  D.,  preached  the  sermon,  and  the 
Rev.  Wm.  M.  Tennent,  D.D.,  gave  the  charges  to  both 
pastor  and  people.  At  the  ordination  and  installation 
of  Mr.  Biggs,  nine  years  afterwards,  the  same  Jane- 
way  presided.  Dr.  Wm.  Neill  preached,  and  the  Rev. 
George  C.  Potts  gave  the  charges  to  pastor  and  people. 
The  first  person  admitted,  according  to  the  roll,  to  the 
membership  of  the  church  after  it  had  become  Pres- 
byterian, was  the  mother  of  Commodore  Decatur. 
The  elders  of  the  church  elected  during  this  period, 
according  to  the  time  of  their  election,  were  Robert 
Smith,  Samuel  W.  Doak,  Jacob  Myers  (1810) — 
Edward  Gilfillen  M.  D.  William  Nassau,  Capt.  Jacob 
Peterson  (1812)— Rodrick  Adams  (1820)— William 
Gibson,  Christopher  Coon,  Thomas  D.  Mitchell  M. 
D.  (1829)— Alfred  Jenks,  George  T.  McCalmont 
(1830).  With  one  exception,  these  have  all  now 
passed  away  from  earth.  Then  this  period  had  a  long 
array  of  trustees  whose  names  will  call  up  grateful 
remembrances  to  many  present.  They  were  George 
W^ilson,  Edward  McVaugh,  Adam  Baker,  Jacob  Peter- 


OF  FRANKFORD.  73 

son,  Edward  Gilfillen,  M.  D.,  Jacob  Deal,  Dr.  William 
Hurst,  Lewis  Wurnwag,  Peter  Brous,  George  Haines, 
Henry  Kohrer,  Conrad  Baker,  Robert  Worrell,  Hugh 
McKinley,  Henry  Castor,  Danfrith  Woolwurth, 
Daniel  Thomas,  Jacob  Myers,  Abraham  Tenbrook, 
John  R.  Neff,  Benjamin  A.  Prentiss,  Joseph  Pierson, 
Capt.  William  Hess,  Joseph  Wigfall,  Jacob  Coates, 
Peter  Buckius,  Gardner  Fulton,  James  Tatham,  John 
G.  Teese  (who  long  and  faithfully  filled  that  office — • 
the  latter  part  of  his  life  President  of  the  Board),  Dr. 
John  White,  Abraham  Yonker,  Conrad  Fries,  Rode- 
rick Adams,  Samuel  Wakeling,  Samuel  Castor,  Dr. 
Thomas  D.  Mitchell,  Joseph  Allen,  William  Gibson, 
Bela  Badger,  John  Wilen,  Charles  Dewees,  Rudolph 
Buckius,  George  K.  Budd,  Adam  Slater  and  Alfred 
Jenks.  I  do  not  know  that  one  of  these  is  alive  now; 
but  very  many  of  their  descendants  are  still  with  us. 
At  the  beginning  of  this  period  Joseph  R.  Dickson 
was  leader  of  the  music  of  the  sanctuary.  He  was 
succeeded  in  1810  by  Samuel  White,  who  conducted  it 
only  one  year.  Then  John  G.  Teese  led  it  for  seven 
years.  In  1818  Jesse  Y.  Castor  established  what  was 
called  the  Harmonic  Society — a  sort  of  singing-school 
— whose  first  meetings  were  held  around  the  stove  of 
the  Church,  but  which  continued  in  existence  for  many 
years.    He  was  the  leader  of  the  music  for  three  years, 


74  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CH  UR CH 

though  he  had  before  been  associated  in  that  office 
with  Mr.  Teese.  It  was  by  ]iim  about  this  time  that 
a  choir  was  first  organized.  After  him  came  James 
Seddins,  who  conducted  it  for  six  years.  Then  Dr. 
Mitchell  and  William  Gibson  had  charge  of  it  until 
1833,  a  space  of  about  six  years. 

The  two  memorable  events  of  this  period  were  the 
enlarging  of  the  Church  edifice,  and  the  commence- 
ment of  the  Sabbath-school.  Soon  after  the  settle- 
ment of  Mr.  Doak  it  was  found  that  the  old  building 
was  too  small  to  accommodate  all  the  worshippers. 
Something  must  be  done  to  enlarge.  On  the  26th  of 
August,  1809,  the  congregation  determined  to  under- 
take that  work.  Contributions  were  solicited  in  the 
Church  and  in  the  community,  and  the  effort  was  so 
successful  that  in  the  next  year  an  addition  of  forty 
feet  was  made  to  the  front  of  the  Church,  which  a 
little  more  than  doubled  its  capacity.  Long  lists  of 
those  who  subscribed  for  this  object  are  still  in  exis- 
tence, from  which  I  select  a  few  names — omitting 
those  already  given  in  the  roll  of  trustees,  all  of  whom 
subscribed.  We  find  among  them — Ann  Decatur, 
John  McAllister,  Joseph  Wigfall,  Mary  Baker,  John 
McMullen,  George  Onyx,  Jacob  Fraley,  Yost  Yonker, 
Robert  Ralston,  Abraham  Kintzing,  Abram  Duffield, 
Samuel    Wakeling,  Anthony  Kennedy,  Rebecca  Neff, 


OF  FRANKFORD.  75 

Alexander  Martin,  Robert  Patton,  Derick  Peterson, 
Kachel  Wetherill  and  Col.  James  Burn.  The  Build- 
ing Committee  who  contracted  for  the  work  and  super- 
intended it,  consisted  of  Messrs.  George  Castor,  Joseph 
Dearman  and  John  H.  Worrell.  The  carpenter  work 
was  done  by  Henry  Retzer ;  the  mason  work  by  Jacob 
Deal,  whose  son  Charles,  forty  years  afterwards,  built 
this  edifice  in  which  we  are  now  assembled.  Such 
was  the  old  building  which  most  of  us  remember,  and 
which  was  taken  down  eleven  years  ago,  to  give  place 
to  the  present  large  one  which  stands  on  the  same  spot. 
The  Sabbath-school  of  the  Church  was  commenced 
fifty- five  years  ago  in  the  spring  of  1815.  It  was 
projected  by  Mr.  George  Castor.  By  his  persuasion 
Mrs.  Martha  Dungan  commenced  the  school  in  the 
month  of  April,  of  that  year.  Its  first  session  was 
held  by  the  stove  in  the  Church,  but  afterwards  in  the 
gallery.  Mrs.  DungarT  had  associated  with  her  Mrs. 
Patterson — the  only  other  teacher.  The  scholars 
were  for  a  time  all  girls — at  first  only  seven  in 
number.  Of  these  seven,  four  are  still  living — and 
all  with  us  but  one — members  of  the  Church — they 
are  Mrs.  Mary  Wakeling,  Mrs.  Mary  Stratton,  Miss 
Martha  Harper  and  Miss  Sarah  Neff.  The  greatest 
opposition  to  the  school  at  first  was  because  it  was 
free.     Parents  alleged  that  they  could  afford  to  pay 


6  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CHVR  Ctl 

for  their  children's  schooling.  The  boys'  department 
of  the  school  was  commenced  three  years  afterwards 
in  the  old  square  pews  in  the  body  of  the  Church.  Its 
first  teachers  were  Messrs.  William  Gibson,  Nassau, 
and  John  Deal.  Such  was  the  beginning  of  this  Sab- 
bath-school which  was  one  of  the  first  in  the  land, 
which  has  continued  for  more  than  half  a  century, 
in  which  hundreds  of  souls  have  been  converted,  and 
which  to-day  is  so  large  and  prosperous. 

Of  the  two  honored  servants  of  God  who  during 
that  period  ministered  in  the  Church,  I  would  now 
love  to  give  a  sketch.  The  history  would  be  other- 
wise imperfect.  But  in  reference  to  the  first  of  them, 
the  Rev.  John  Whitefield  Doak,  I  am  not  able  to  do 
so  with  any  degree  of  fullness.  I  have  not  the 
material.  What  we  do  know  of  him  is  that  he  was 
the  son  of  the  eminent  Rev.  Samuel  Doak,  D.  D.,  of 
East  Tennessee.  He  was  born  in  1788  ;  was  educated 
by  his  father ;  was  licensed  i^  preach  by  the  Abington 
Presbytery,  when  he  was  in  his  nineteenth  year ;  and 
shortly  after  was  ordained  and  installed  pastor  of 
New  Dublin  and  Wythville  churches  in  Virginia. 
He  was  subsequently  pastor  of  Mount  Bethel  and 
Providence  churches  in  Tennessee.  He  was  next 
installed  pastor  of  this  Church  in  1809.  Here  he 
labored  diligently  for  seven  years,  leaving  an  impress 


OF  FEANKFORD.  77 

never  to  be  effaced,  and  a  name  that  was  honored — 
that  is  yet  named  with  respect,  and  that  is  still 
borne  in  families  that  received  the  word  from  his 
lips  in  that  olden  time.  In  consequence  of  the  failure 
of  his  health,  which  rendered  it  doubtful  whether  he 
would  be  able  to  continue  in  the  ministry,  he  studied 
medicine,  returned  to  Tennessee,  and  became  a  very 
successful  medical  practitioner,  and  at  the  same  time 
officiated  as  stated  supply  of  Salem  and  Leesburg. 
He  died  in  October,  1820.  He  was  distinguished  for 
his  talents  and  usefulness. 

Of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Biggs,  whose  pastorate  here 
was  longer  than  any  other  previous  to  the  present,  we 
happily  have  enough  information  to  enable  us  to 
appreciate  the  high  excellency  of  his  character  and 
ministry.  He  was  born  in  this  city  Nov.  29,  1787 — 
became  a  member  of  the  Old  Pine  Street  Church  in 
1807,  when  the  Rev.  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander  was 
its  pastor — graduated  at  Princeton  College  in  1815, 
some  of  his  classmates  being  Drs.  Daniel  Baker, 
Charles  Hodge,  S.  C.  Henry  and  Bishop  John  Johns ; 
was  for  a  time  tutor  in  Princeton  College — studied  at 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary,  and  was  ordained  by 
the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  and  became  pastor  of 
this  Church  in  1818.  After  remaining  here  thirteen 
years  he  accepted  a  professorship  in  Lane  Theological 


78  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

Seminary  at  Cincinnati.  That  office  he  held  for  seven 
years,  and  became  President  of  Cincinnati  College  in 
1839.  In  that  position  he  continued  for  six  years, 
and  for  three  years  more  was  President  of  Woodward 
College  in  Cincinnati.  In  1852  he  was  installed 
pastor  of  the  Fifth  Church  of  that  city,  and  after 
four  years  resigned  that  charge.  From  that  time  he 
ceased  from  active  service.  In  1864,  at  the  ao-e  of 
seventy-seven,  he  fell  asleep  in  Jesus.  Of  this  good 
man  the  memory  is  most  fragrant  with  all  those  who 
remember  him  as  pastor  of  this  Church.  None  ever 
speak  of  him  in  other  words  than  those  of  veneration 
and  love.  There  are  those  still  with  us  who  call  him 
blessed  for  having  been  instrumental  in  bringing  them 
into  the  kingdom.  The  best  tribute  to  him  I  have 
seen  is  that  of  Bishop  Mcllvaine  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  in  Ohio.     It  was  spoken  at  his  funeral. 

"  I  have  known  the  deceased  for  fifty  years.  I  entered  the 
college  of  New  Jersey  in  1814.  The  first  time  I  saw  him  was 
when  he  came  forward  in  the  chapel  to  lead  the  singing,  which 
he  was  accustomed  to  do.  Dr.  Green  was  then  President  of  the 
college.  The  students  were  generally  irreligious,  and  opposed 
and  persecuted  the  few  who  professed  religion.  The  latter,  only 
twelve  or  thirteen  m  number,  one  of  whom  was  young  Biggs, 
were  very  faithful.  They  were  accustomed  to  meet  every  eve- 
ning at  nine  o'clock  for  prayer  in  the  room  of  one  of  their  num- 
ber, and   in  these  meetings  they  prayed  earnestly  for  a  revival 


OF  FRANKFORD.  79 

of  religion  in  the  college.  Prior  to  this  there  had  never  been  a 
revival  of  religion  in  the  college,  and  it  required  great  faith  to 
expect  it.  At  length,  in  answer  to  prayer,  the  Spirit  of  God 
was  poured  out,  so  that  in  two  or  three  days  the  largest  room 
in  the  college  was  filled  with  the  previously  irreligious,  asking 
for  the  prayers  of  the  j)ious.  The  twelve  or  thirteen  were  now 
fully  occupied  in  ministering  to  their  fellow-students.  The  first 
prayer  meeting  I  ever  attended  was  in  the  room  of  young  Biggs 
and  Daniel  Baker.  Many  were  brought  into  the  kingdom  in 
connection  with  this  revival.  Among  the  rest  were  Dr.  Arm- 
strong, late  Secretary  of  the  American  Board  of  Foreign  Mis- 
sions, and  Dr.  Hodge,  who  had  previously  seemed  to  be  almost 
a  Christian.  Since  Dr.  Biggs  came  to  the  West  in  1832  until 
his  death,  our  acquaintance  was  intimate.  We  did  not  know 
each  other  as  Episcopalian  or  Presbyterian.  A  beautiful  trait 
in  his  character  was  the  largeness  of  his  Christian  regards. 
He  was  beautiful  too  in  his  faith,  and  the  joyfulness  of  his 
hope.  He  never  seemed  to  see  God  in  the  pillar  of  cloud, 
but  always  in  the  pillar  of  light.  Christ  was  so  near  to  him 
that  he  felt  no  doubts.  Great  lovingness  of  mind  and  heart 
characterized  him  beyond  what  is  usual.  It  beamed  from  his 
countenance,  it  spoke  from  his  voice,  and  was  expressed  in 
his  whole  manner     He  must  have  been  useful,  as  he  was." 

These  twenty-two  years  were  a  period  of  progress  in 
the  Church.  Especially  during  the  ministry  of  Mr. 
Biggs  many  were  added  to  the  kingdom  of  Christ, 
most  of  whom  have  gone  with  their  beloved  pastor  to 
the  blessed  congregation  above.  The  Church  became 
then  better  established,  and  all  her  ordinances  pre- 


80  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CHUR  CH 

pared  for  the  work  of  the  generations  that  were  to 
succeed. 

The  fourth  period  of  our  history  was  a  short  one. 
It  covers  a  space  of  little  more  tlian  six  years.  It 
began  with  the  close  of  the  ministry  of  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Biggs^  in  the  fall  of  1831,  and  extended  to  the  instal- 
lation of  the  Rev.  Wm.  D.  Howard,  March  13,  1838. 
The  outline  of  its  history  is  soon  given.  The  Rev. 
James  G.  Watson  was  invited  by  Mr.  Biggs  to  preach 
for  a  short  time  as  he  left  the  Church.  This  he  con- 
tinued to  do  for  a  few  months  when  he  was  called  to 
accept  the  pastoral  care  of  the  Church.  But  this  call 
he  declined.  Soon  after  this  the  Rev.  J.  T.  Marshall 
Davie  received  a  call  and  was  installed  pastor,  August 
28,  1832.  In  this  service  the  Rev.  Alexander  Boyd 
presided,  the  Rev.  Wm.  F.  Gibson  preached  the  ser- 
mon, and  the  Rev.  Robert  Steel  delivered  the  charges 
to  the  pastor  and  people. 

During  that  summer,  between  his  call  in  spring  and 
installation  in  the  autumn,  the  Church,  and  indeed 
the  whole  community,  was  sorely  distracted  by  the 
prevalence  of  cholera;  and  during  that  time  there  was 
only  occasional  preaching  by  a  Rev.  Mr.  Barber. 
Mr.  Davie  remained  but  two  years.  Then  the  Rev. 
David  X.  Junkin  supplied  the  pulpit  for  a  few 
months.     The  Rev.  Austin  G.  Morss  succeeded  and 


OF  FRANKFORD.  8 1 

was  installed  pastor  on  April  30th,  1835.  At  his 
installation  the  Rev.  Robert  Adair  preached,  the  Rev. 
John  McDowell,  D.  D.,  presided  and  gave  the  charge 
to  the  minister,  and  the  Rev.  James  L.  Dinwiddie  the 
charge  to  the  people.  Mr.  Morss  remained  only  two 
years  and  closed  his  ministry  here  in  1837.  During 
the  intervals  of  these  various  changes  there  frequently 
were  Sabbaths  when  no  preacher  could  be  had ;  on 
such  occasions  the  time  was  generally  occupied  as  a 
prayer-meeting,  conducted  by  Mr.  Gibson,  Dr. 
Mitchell,  or  others.  During  this  period  there  were 
but  three  elders  elected,  namely,  Charles  Dewees, 
John  D.  Harper  and  John  Deal — the  last  named  of 
whom  is  still  with  us,  having  faithfully  fulfilled  the 
duties  of  that  office  now  for  thirty-four  years,  and 
having  been  thoroughly  identified  with  all  the  inter- 
ests of  the  Church  for  a  much  longer  time.  The 
clerks  who  conducted  the  music  were  first  Daniel  Axe, 
in  1833,  and  then  Abraham  Barnard  from  1834 
onward.  The  trustees,  according  to  the  date  of  their 
election,  were  Christopher  Wisner,  Peter  Slaughter 
(a  man  affectionately  remembered  for  his  purity  of 
character,  his  Christian  activity,  and  long-continued 
usefulness  in  the  Church),  David  Smith,  Samuel 
Dixon,  Thomas  Bell,  Daniel  Yonker,  Francis  Putt, 
George  J.   Foulkrod,  John   D.  Harper,  John   Lamb, 


82  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CHURCH 

M.  D.,  John  Deal,  David   Hunter,  William   Wilkey, 
Dr.  R.  R,.  Porter  and  Jesse  Y.  Castor. 

All  the  ministers  who  officiated  in  the  Church, 
either  as  pastors  or  stated  supplies  during  that  period, 
are  still  alive,  with  one  exception — that  of  Mr.  Davie. 
Though  his  ministry  here  was  short  yet  we  must  pay 
his  memory  a  passing  tribute,  for  he  was  a  good  man, 
and  his  pastorate  was  the  brightest  spot  in  this  unset- 
tled period  of  our  Church's  history.  His  death 
occurred  in  March,  1862,  at  Flatlands,  L.  I.  He  fell 
with  his  harness  on  in  the  midst  of  a  beloved  people 
with  whom  his  memory  is  still  fragrant.  Two  things 
were  characteristic  of  Mr.  Davie — an  earnest  adhe- 
rence to  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel  as  held  by  our 
Reformed  Churches,  and  a  most  tender  and  loving 
heart  in  presenting  them.  One  who  was  most  inti- 
mate with  him  bears  testimony  that  he  was  an  Israelite 
indeed  in  whom  there  was  no  guile — that  prudence, 
practical  wisdom,  and  earnest,  persevering  labor  in 
preaching  and  pastoral  duties  characterized  him. 
Another  who  had  been  an  inmate  of  his  family  for 
months  declares  of  him  that  he  had  never  seen  his 
temper  even  ruffled.  And  another  that  he  was  uni- 
formly happy  and  forbearing  so  as  never  to  be  excited 
into  any  unkind  remark  about  any  one.  Such  was 
that  good  man  whose  ministry  was  only  too  short  with 


OF  FRANKFORD.  83 

this  people.  It  was  during  this  period  that  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  of  Bridesburg  was  organized.  The 
pastors  of  this  Church,  especially  Mr.  Biggs,  had 
preached  there  before  in  a  school-house.  By  their 
means  the  way  was  prepared  for  the  organization  of  a 
separate  church  on  the  24th  of  February,  1837.  The 
elders  at  its  organization  were  Alfred  Jenks,  Samuel 
Powel,  Charles  Ramsey  and  Andrew  Ramsey.  Since 
that  it  has  gone  on  and  prospered  and,  for  thirty- 
three  years,  been  a  source  of  blessing  to  the  com- 
munity, and  has  to-day  a  bright  prospect  of  useful- 
ness before  it. 

Such  was  this  short  period  of  our  Church's  history. 
It  was  an  unsettled  season — a  season  of  great  change 
as  we  have  seen — a  season,  towards  its  close,  of  strife 
over  which  we  will  cast  the  mantle  of  oblivion  ex- 
cepting so  far  as  fidelity  compels  us  to  say  that  the 
Church  was  thereby  weakened,  and,  for  the  time, 
injured  greatly  in  her  usefulness. 

The  fifth  period  into  which  I  have  divided  our 
Church's  history  is  in  one  sense  the  most  easy,  and  in 
another  the  most  difficult  to  record.  It  is  easy  be- 
cause it  is  smooth,  unruffled  and  steadily  progressive ; 
but  difficult  to  enlarge  upon  for  that  very  reason,  and 
because  it  is  comparatively  destitute  of  striking  events ; 
besides  most  of  its  incidents  are  so  recent  that  it  seems 


84  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CH  UR  CH 

scarce  worth  while  to  dwell  upon  them  before  those  to 
whose  memory  most  of  them  are  so  fresh. 

This  j^eriod  embraces  thirty-two  years — from  March 
13,  1838  until  the  present  time.  At  that  date  the 
Rev.  Wm.  D.  Howard  was  ordained  and  installed 
pastor.  On  that  occasion  the  Rev.  R.  W.  Landis 
preached,  the  Rev.  William  Neill,  D.  D.,  presided, 
and  gave  the  charge  to  the  minister,  and  the  Rev. 
Robert  Steele,  D.  D.,  the  charge  to  the  congregation. 
Mr.  Howard  remained  pastor  for  eleven  years,  and 
then  removed,  in  the  spring  of  1849,  to  Pittsburg. 
A  few  months  afterwards  the  present  pastor  was  called, 
and  was  ordained  and  installed,  October  11th,  1849, 
the  Rev.  Robert  D.  Morris  presiding  on  the  occasion, 
the  Rev.  Silas  M.  Andrews,  D.  D.,  preaching,  the  Rev. 
Robert  Steele,  D.  D.,  giving  the  charge  to  the  pastor, 
and  the  Rev.  Henry  S.  Rodenbaugh  to  the  people. 
This  last  pastorate  has  continued  now  for  over  twenty 
years.  The  elders  elected  during  this  long  period 
have  been  Robert  Pattison  (1839),  Robert  W.  Solly, 
William  Irwin,  Philip  Cressman  (1853),  Benjamin 
Rodgers,  William  J.  Warner,  James  Miller  (1864), 
and  Robert  Cornelius  (1866).  I  must  also  record  the 
names  of  the  trustees,  who,  with  much  care,  have  con- 
ducted the  temporal  affairs  of  the  Church, — Francis 
Deal,  Frederick   Tryon,  Enoch   Arthur,  Robert   W. 


OF  FRANKFORD.  85 

Solly,  George  J.  Castor,  William  Joiies,  Thomas 
Wriggins,  Benjamin  Kodgers,  Joseph  Scattergoocl, 
William  Blackburn,  Randolph  W.  Evans,  William  E. 
Hamill,  David  Murdock,  William  Irwin,  James  C. 
Thompson,  Rudolph  Adams,  Reuben  Myers,  Dr.  E. 
F.  Leake,  Thomas  W.  Duffield,  John  G.  Gumming, 
Alfred  H.  Foster,  James  Miller,  Samuel  Wakeling, 
Joseph  Ball,  James  McAllister,  John  C.  Cornelius, 
Jacob  F.  Wagner,  Thomas  Banes,  Dr.  William  F. 
Guernsey,  William  Keas,  F.  K.  Womrath,  Barton 
Castor,  John  McMullen,  Charles  H.  Filler,  George 
Taylor  and  George  F.  Borie. 

Those  who  have  led  in  the  praises  of  God  up  to 
the  present  time,  during  this  period,  must  here  find  a 
place.  Abraham  Barnard  continued  in  that  office 
until  1840.  Then  Henry  Bill  followed  for  four  years 
until  1844.  After  him  came  William  J.  Warner 
until  1848.  He  was  succeeded  by  David  Chipman 
for  three  years,  until  1851.  Then  James  O'Neill  for 
one  year,  and  afterwards  Luther  B.  Guernsey  one 
year,..nntil  1853.  In  1854  the  present  leader  of  the 
music,  Marshall  Davie  Yonker,  entered  upon  his 
office,  and  has  most  faithfully  and  well  discharged  its 
duties  for  sixteen  years.  During  all  that  time  there 
has  been  no  serious  difficulty  or  strife  of  any  kind  in 
the  choir ;  but  they  have  conducted  the  music  of  the 


S6  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

sanctuary  to  the  great  comfort,  peace  and  edification 
of  the  Church.  Since  the  organ  was  placed  in  the 
Church  in  1865,  George  Lehman  has  been  the  skill- 
ful organist. 

I  have  already  said  that  in  1799  good  old  George 
Rohrer  was  appointed  sexton.  That  office  he  held  for 
nineteen  years,  and  was  succeeded  by  Jacob  Harper  in 
1818,  though  he  continued  to  assist  for  a  year  or  two 
still.  Jacob  Harper  held  the  position  until  1829. 
Then  John  D.  Harper  performed  its  duties  for  two 
years,  and  James  P.  Williams  for  two  more.  In  1842 
the  present  esteemed  sexton,  Joseph  Watson,  was 
appointed,  and  has  now  filled  the  office  twenty-eight 
years,  until  he  has  become  an  essential  part  of  the 
Church. 

On  the  26th  of  April,  1853,  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Holmesburg,  was  organized  as  an  offshoot 
from  this.  Both  Dr.  Howard  and  the  present  pastor 
of  this  Church  had  frequently  preached  there  to 
gather  the  nucleus  of  a  new  church.  Accordingly  the 
church  was  organized  with  Robert  Pattison,  from  this 
Church,  as  its  first  elder,  and  the  Rev.  James  Scott  its 
first  pastor.  Since  that  it  has  faithfully  held  its  place 
in  the  sisterhood  of  our  churches. 

I  have  taken  up  too  much  time  and  must  now 
confine  myself  to  general    results.     During   the   pas- 


OF  FRANKFORD.  87 

torate  of  Mr.  Howard  the  Church  grew  and  pros- 
pered. Many  souls  were  added  to  it,  especially  in 
the  year  1848,  which  was  a  time  of  refreshing  from 
the  Spirit  of  God.  Old  strifes  were  healed.  All 
the  machinery  of  the  Church  was  brought  into  effi- 
cient w^orking  order.  The  church  edifice  was  re- 
paired and  remodelled ;  the  parsonage  was  built  in 
1844 ;  and  the  Sabbath-school  was  brought  up  to  a 
state  of  numbers  and  efficiency,  which  placed  it  in 
the  front  rank  of  such  institutions. 

As  to  the  present  pastorate,  though  it  has  been  long, 
I  have  time  or  inclination  to  give  only  some  of  its 
results.  The  great  event  in  the  outward  condition  of 
the  Church,  during  this  time,  was  the  removal  of  the 
old  building  which  had  stood  for  ninety  years,  and 
the  erection  of  this  one,  twice  its  capacity,  in  its  stead. 
Many  and  dear  were  the  associations  which  ^had  to  be 
sacrificed ;  but  the  necessity  for  more  room  compelled 
the  sacrifice  to  be  made.  The  corner-stone  of  this 
building  was  laid  June  9th,  1859  ;  and  the  house, 
completed,  was  dedicated  to  the  worship  of  the  Most 
High  God  June  14th,  1860.  The  mason-work  was 
done  by  Mr.  Charles  Deal,  and  the  carpenter  work  by 
Mr.  William  Irwin.  Other  improvements  have  been 
made  in  these  twenty  years — as  the  liquidation  of 
debts,  the  enclosure  of  church  and   grave-yard,  and 


88  THE  PRESB  YTERIA  N  CHUB  CH 

the  purchase  of  a  large  organ — but  I  pass  by  these  to 
speak  of  the  higher,  the  spiritual  blessings  vouchsafed 
to  us.  "We  have  had  times  of  refreshing,  as  in  1854 
and  1858,  but  especially,  1866,  during  which  year 
nearly  one  hundred  persons  were  added  to  the  Church. 
Out  of  the  eighty-two  communion  seasons  we  have 
had  in  that  time,  there  were  but  two  when  no  names 
were  added  to  our  roll.  In  the  beginning  of  these 
twenty  years  there  were  one  hundred  and  thirty-six 
members  in  the  church ;  there  are  now  four  hundred 
and  thirty- three.  Of  those  who  were  with  us  then 
there  remain  now  but  forty-five.  The  Sabbath-school 
which  at  first  had  but  nine,  now  numbers  over  five 
hundred  persons.  During  these  twenty  years  we  have 
had  the  inexpressible  pleasure  of  receiving  nearly  six 
hundred  persons  into  the  Church.  Thus  has  God 
blessed  us,  and  to  his  name  be  the  praise. 

One  century  of  our  Church  has  closed,  and  as  we 
look  back  over  it  we  must  pay  a  grateful  tribute  to 
the  memory  of  those  who  toiled,  and  struggled,  and 
prayed  to  keep  the  light  of  truth  burning  here  and  to 
build  up  the  walls  of  this  Zion.  Amongst  those  who 
have  lived  for  God  and  their  race  let  not  their  names 
be  forgotten.  Let  not  us  esp(*ially  who  have  entered 
into  their  heritage  forget  them.  Four  or  five  of  their 
names  we  would  repeat  before  we  close.     They  were 


OF  FRANKFORD.  89 

rulers  in  this  house  of  God,  and  but  recently  in  the 
century  went  to  their  rest. 

The  first  of  these  elders  who  slept  in  Jesus,  was 
Eoderick  Adams  in  1838,  at  the  age  of  51.  For  a 
short  time  he  was  the  sole  elder  of  the  Church. 
Truthfully  could  it  be  said  of  him  that  he  was  a 
man  with  scarce  an  enemy.  Prudent,  amiable,  reti- 
ring, he  could  be  known  only  to  be  beloved. 

Next  to  go  home  to  Jesus  was  George  Castor,  in 
1844 — at  the  age  of  79.  A  descendant  of  one  of 
the  four  who  laid  the  foundations  of  the  Church 
in  the  beginning,  he  was  five  years  old  when  his 
grandfather  helped  in  that  good  work.  Himself 
among  the  first  of  its  elders — when  the  church  was 
to  be  established  in  a  new  connection — when  its 
first  house  of  worship  was  to  be  enlarged — when  great 
trouble  had  to  be  taken  to  supply  its  pulpit — when 
great  sacrifices  had  to  be  made  to  bear  its  expenses 
and  maintain  its  ordinances — George  Castor  was 
always  firm  and  ready.  He  has  been  known  even 
to  mortgage  his  own  property,  that  the  interests  of 
his  Zion  might  be  supported.  Such  was  the  venera- 
ble and  upright  man,  whose  name  for  nearly  half  a 
century  was  on  almost  every  page  of  our  Church's 
history. 

The  next  of  these  elders  who  slept  in  Jesus,  was 

8* 


90  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CHUB CH 

William  Gibson,  in  the  year  1851,  at  the  age  of 
63.  A  native  of  the  North  of  Ireland,  he  early  em- 
braced and  was  deeply  grounded  in  the  principles  of 
the  grand  old  system  of  doctrines  which  we  profess. 
But  he  was  also  active  in  all  the  departments  of 
Christian  usefulness.  As  one  of  the  founders  of  its 
Sabbath-school,  a  leader  of  its  music,  an  active  elder, 
a  man  of  prayer,  the  possessor  of  a  warm.  Christian 
heart, — his  name  shall  long  live  in  our  Zion. 

Next  of  these  beloved  names  is  that  of  Alfred 
Jenks,  who  rested  from  his  labors  in  1854,  at  the  age 
of  61.  He  was  a  man  of  strong  faith  and  trust  in 
God.  As  one  who  was  never  tiring,  and  most  gen- 
erous in  enterprises  for  the  promotion  of  Christ's  king- 
dom, he  is  well  remembered.  Even  though  at  a  dis- 
tance from  the  house  of  God,  he  would  seldom  be 
absent  from  its  services  either  on  Sabbath  or  week- 
day. While  the  church  esteems  those  who  are  lovers 
of  good  men  and  friends  of  Christian  enterprise,  the 
name  of  Mr.  Jenks  will  be  fragrant. 

Another  of  those  whose  memory  is  still  cherished 
with  us  is  John  D.  Harper.  As  elder  and  trustee  of 
the  church,  and  superintendent  of  the  Sabbath-school 
and  member  of  a  family  connected  prominently  with 
the  Church  from  its  commencement  until  the  present 
time,  Mr.    Harper  cannot  be  forgotten.     None  was 


OF  FRANKFORD.  91 

more  active  than  he  in  every  good  word  and  work. 
Hand  and  heart,  he  was  ready  to  engage  in  every- 
thing calculated  to  promote  the  cause  of  Christ.  Mr. 
Harper  was  eminently  a  man  of  peace.  Affectionate 
in  his  own  disposition,  it  was  his  study  to  promote  the 
brotherly  affection  and  harmony  of  the  church.  He 
was  ever  a  staunch  friend  of  his  ministers  in  all  efforts 
to  advance  the  interests  of  Zion.  In  October,  1865, 
at  the  age  of  fifty  nine,  he  slept  peacefully  in  Jesus. 

One  other  of  these  dear  names  I  must  mention — 
that  of  Dr.  Thomas  D.  Mitchell.  He  finished  his 
earthly  work  and  went  to  his  crown  in  1865, 
at  the  age  of  74.  For  a  long  time  he  was  ruling 
elder  of  this  Church,  and  his  name  stands  upon  its 
records  as  prominent  in  every  good  word  and  work. 
His  piety  and  zeal  were  unflinching,  and  oh,  how 
many  will  rise  up  to  call  him  blessed  !  Many  other 
names  of  elders  and  others  I  would  love  to  linger 
upon,  but  time  utterly  forbids,  and  I  would  not  know 
how  to  select  without  appearing  partial. 

But  while  we  speak  gratefully  of  these,  to  the 
Great  Head  of  the  Church  our  supreme  gratitude  is 
due.  He  planted  this  branch.  He  has  kept  it  alive. 
He  nurtured  it  during  all  these  years.  He  sheltered 
it  under  the  rage  of  every  storm.  He  has  brought 
it  at  the  close  of  a  century  to  be  the  goodly  tree  we  now 


92  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CHURCH 

behold.  And,  with  all  our  hearts,  we  say  to  him,  as 
our  fathers  did  in  the  beginning,  '^  Thine  be  the  praise 
and  thanks,  honor  and  glory,  now  and  for  ever." 

And  what  a  goodly  portion  is  ours,  dear  friends  of 
this  Zion  !  It  has  been  prepared  for  us  by  the  labors, 
and  sacrifices  and  prayers  of  a  hundred  years.  We 
come  to  it  when  our  Presbyterian  Church  is  united 
and  entering  upon  a  new  era.  We  come  to  it  in  an 
age  which  is  most  eventful  and  promising.  Oh  what 
a  glorious  prospect  we  may  have  before  us  !  But 
what  a  solemn  responsibility  too !  Let  us  then  be 
faithful  in  our  lot.  Let  us  recognize  what  that  lot  is. 
All  this  accumulation  of  power  for  Christ  and  souls 
let  us  use  with  the  ardor  it  deserves.  Let  us  look  upon 
these  hundred  years  as  the  preparation,  the  sowing  time 
— now  let  our  striving  be  for  fruit  an   hundred-fold. 

The  stream  of  this  Church's  time  is  following^  on 
and  on.  We  have  now  been  thrown  into  it,  and  our 
portion  is  floating  by.  Where  shall  it  bear  us  ?  If 
another  hand  writes  our  history  in  the  years  to  come, 
what  shall  it  be  ?  A  history  of  usefulness,  of  loving 
piety,  of  burning  zeal  for  Jesus,  whose  name  we  bear 
and  whose  blood  saves  us  ?  God  grant  that  it  may  be 
— and  then,  in  eternity,  a  hundred  years  to  come — and 
a  hundred  hundred  years  to  come — we  shall  render 
him  far  louder  praise. 


OF  FRANKFORD.  93 

Our  forefathers,  a  hundred  years  ago,  left  this 
Church  to  their  successors,  with  a  solemn  charge  to 
preserve  it,  and  to  seek  to  increase  its  numbers. 

We  now,  at  the  beginning  of  another  century,  send 
it  down  to  our  successors,  and  this  is  our  charge  to 
them  :  Maintain  the  truth.  Be  faithful  to  Jesus,  your 
King.  Keep  Him  near  your  hearts.  Gather  men 
into  the  kingdom.  Grow  in  grace.  And  our  last 
obligation — love  one  another. 


Chorus. 


VIIT- 
ANTHEM. 

BUNG   BY    THE    CHOIR. 

"the  lord  op  hosts." 

LoED  of  Hosts,  to  Thee  we  raise, 
Here  a  song  of  grateful  praise ; 
Thou  Thy  people's  hearts  prepare 
Here  to  meet  for  praise  and  prayer. 

Teeble  Solo. 

Let  the  living  here  be  fed, 

With  Thy  word,  the  heavenly  bread  ; 

Here  in  hope  of  glory  blest, 

May  the  dead  be  laid  to  rest. 

Duett.    1st  and  2d  Treble. 

Here  to  Thee  a  temple  stand, 
While  the  sea  shall  gird  the  land. 


94  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CHUR  CH 

Here  reveal  Thy  mercy  sure, 
While  the  sun  and  moon  endure. 

Chorus. 

Hallelujah,  Hallelujah  earth  and  sky, 

To  the  joyful  sound  reply ; 

Hallelujahj  Hallelujah,  hence  ascend, 

Prayer  and  praise  till  time  shall  end.  Amen. 


IX. 
BENEDICTION, 

BY  THE  REV.   J.  ADDISON   HENRY. 


Afternoon   Exercises,  Qi  o'clock. 


THE   REV.  J.  GRIER  RALSTON,  D.D.,  LL.  D.  PRESIDING. 


I. 

INVOCATIOK 

BY  THE  REV.   JOSEPH  A.   WARNE. 

ALMIGHTY  and  most  merciful  Lord,  our  God, 
thou  hast  been  the  dwelling-place  of  thy  people 
in  all  generations.  A  thousand  years  in  thy  sight, 
when  they  are  past,  are  but  as  yesterday.  We  are 
met,  in  thy  good  providence,  to  celebrate  the  centen- 
ary anniversary  of  the  church  which  worships  thee 
within  these  walls.  We  bless  thee  for  thy  dealings 
with  them,  and  we  now  ask  thy  blessing  upon  these 
exercises  which  yet  remain.  If  thou  wilt  bless  us,  no 
place  shall  be  large  enough  to  receive  the  blessing ; 
and  though  the  ordinary  ministrations  of  the  sanctu- 
ary are  not  those  of  the  present  hour,  we  ask  that 
blessing  from  on  high  which  renders  those  ministra- 

95 


96  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CHURCH 

tions  fruitful.  Bless  every  exercise  of  the  present 
hour.  May  those  who  shall  speak,  speak  from  pure 
motives,  speak  guided  by  heavenly  wisdom,  and  may 
what  they  speak  be  blessed  by  thee  to  the  most  bene- 
ficial results,  and  to  the  greatest  glory  of  thy  name. 
When  thy  praise  shall  be  sung  may  it  be  sung  in  the 
spirit  and  the  understanding;  and  may  those  who 
lead  in  this  delightful  part  of  worship,  without  a 
solitary  excej)tion,  unite  at  last,  in  the  song  of  Moses 
and  the  Lamb,  at  thy  right  hand.  Hear,  answer,  for- 
give, and  accept  us  for  our  Redeemer's  sake.     Amen, 


II. 

ANTHEM. 

SUNG   BY   THE  CHOIR. 

0  PRAISE  GOD  IN  HIS  HOLINESS. 

0  praise  God  in  his  holiness, 

Praise  him  in  the  firmament  of  his  power, 

Praise  him  in  his  noble  acts, 

Praise  him  according  to  his  excellent  greatness, 

Praise  him  in  the  sound  of  the  trumpet, 

Praise  him  upon  the  lute  and  harp, 

Praise  him  in  the  cymbals  and  dances. 

Praise  him  on  strings  and  pipes. 

Let  everything  that  hath  breath   praise  the  Lord. 


OF  FRANKFORD.  97 

III. 
PRAYER, 

BY  THE  REV.  ALBERT   BARNES. 

O  Lord,  our  heavenly  Father,  assist  us,  \\e  W^Y 
thee,  by  the  influences  of  thy  Spirit,  as  we  enter  upon 
these  services.  We  pray  that  thou  wilt  be  with  us  in 
all  that  we  may  do ;  that  we  may  have  a  single  eye  to 
thy  glory,  and  an  earnest  desire  to  advance  the  inter- 
ests of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom.  We  thank  thee  for 
the  exercises  in  which  we  were  engaged  this  morning, 
and  that  we  have  been  permitted  to  come  unto  this 
house  and  celebrate  thy  praises,  to  call  upon  thy  name 
by  prayer,  to  call  to  remembrance  thy  goodness  to  this 
church,  during  the  long  period  of  its  past  history ;  for 
thy  favor  shown  to  this  Church  during  these  hundred 
years,  that  thou  hast  been  wdth  it  in  its  struggles,  con- 
flicts and  changes ;  that  thou  hast  watched  over  this 
vine  of  thy  planting  and  caused  it  to  bear  abundant 
fruit ;  for  thy  servants  w^iom  thou  hast  raised  up  and 
sent  to  this  place  to  preach  the  unsearchable  riches  of 
Christ ;  for  all  the  aid  thou  hast  given  them  in  their 
ministry,  the  success  that  attends  their  labor.  We 
bless  thee  for  the  great  numbers  that  have  here  been 
converted   by  thy  truth  dispensed;    sustained  in  the 


98  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CHUR CH 

trials  of  life;  guarded  in  its  temptations;  upheld  in 
the  hour  of  death  ;  and  gone  to  be  with  their  Master 
and  Saviour  in  heaven.  Blessed  be  thy  name  for 
these  great  evidences  of  thy  favor  to  this  Church ;  for 
its  personal  prosperity;  for  this  house  of  worship;  for 
these  arrangements  for  thy  praise ;  for  prayer  ;  for  the 
administration  of  the  ordinances  of  thy  house,  and 
instruction  of  the  young. 

We  pray  thy  blessing  still  to  rest  upon  this  Church 
and  congregation  ;  that  thou  wilt  be  very  gracious  to 
it  in  time  to  come,  as  in  times  past;  that  it  may  be  to 
this  community  a  light  set  upon  a  hill,  which  cannot 
be  hid,  its  influence  seen  and  felt  far  and  near ;  that 
thou  wilt  graciously  bless  thy  servant  the  pastor, 
endue  him  plenteously  with  heavenly  gifts,  with 
health,  and  prosperity  and  long  life ;  smile  upon  his 
labors  when  he  preaches  the  gospel,  and  in  all  his  in- 
tercourse with  his  people.  Bless  the  officers  of  this 
Church,  that  they  may  be  righteous  men,  acting  in  the 
fear  of  God,  sincerely  seeking  the  honor  of  the 
Saviour  and  the  best  interests  of  religion.  We  pray 
for  all  the  members  of  the  Church,  present  or  absent, 
for  any  who  may  be  sick  or  afflicted  in  any  form,  for 
all  connected  with  the  congregation,  for  all  those  who 
are  trained  up  in  this  sanctuary,  who  have  been  in  the 
Sabbath-school  or  Bible-class,  and   early  placed  under 


OF  FRANKFORD.  99 

the  instruction  of  thy  word,  and  have  gone  forth  into 
the  great  world ;  wherever  they  go  protect  them, 
bring  to  their  remembrance  the  lessons  of  their  early 
life  that  they  may  practise  them  ;  if  converted,  keep 
near  thyself;  if  still  strangers,  bring  the  lessons  of  thy 
truth  to  their  remembrance,  that  they  may  give  their 
hearts  to  God  the  Saviour. 

Let  thy  blessing  rest  upon  this  place  and  people, 
upon  all  the  churches  here  and  ministers  of  religion, 
and  pour  thy  blessing  upon  this  city,  upon  the  whole 
country,  and  upon  every  land.  Hear  our  prayer  and 
be  with  us  for  the  Redeemer's  sake.     Amen. 


lY. 

ADDRESS 

BY    THE    REV.    WILLIA.M    D.    HOWARD,    D.    D.,    FORMERLY     PASTOR     OF     THE 

CHURCH. 

Before  I  proceed  to  say  what  I  intended  to  when  I 
came  from  my  somewhat  distant  home  to-day,  I  have 
been  requested  to  express  the  thanks  of  my  brethren 
here  on  the  platform,  and  those  scattered  through  the 
house,  and  all  others  who  partook  of  the  bountiful 
repast  a  while  ago,  which  was  provided  by  the  ladies 
of  this  Church.  I  hardly  know  why  I  was  deputed 
to   express    their   thanks,   unless,  it   may  have    been 


100  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CHUR  CH 

because  having  met  with  so  many  of  my  old  friends, 
I  did  not  get  into  the  dinner  room  at  a  very  early 
hour  and  therefore  was  not  so  filled  that  I  was  beyond 
utterance,  which  may  have  been  the  case  with  some 
others.  The  thanks  of  the  brethren  here,  and  all,  as  I 
said  before,  are  most  cordially  tendered  to  the  ladies 
for  the  repast  which  they  provided. 

I  have  a  brief  story  to  tell  in  relation  to  this  Church, 
with  which  no  one  is  so  familiar  as  myself.  This  is 
my  apology  for  occupying  a  few  moments  of  your 
precious  time  on  this  interesting  occasion. 

The  year  1838  was  a  memorable  year  in  the  history 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  this  country.  A 
variety  of  agencies,  which  had  been  gathering  strength 
for  some  time,  at  length  sundered  the  Church  into  two 
nearly  equal  parts.  The  stream  which  had  flowed  so 
long  with  a  gradually  increasing  volume,  was  rudely 
divided  into  two  branches,  which  having  continued 
their  separate,  though  nearly  parallel  courses  for 
nearly  the  third  of  a  century,  are  now,  by  the  good 
providence  of  God,  again  happily  re-united.  The 
year  1838  w^as  also  somewhat  memorable  in  the 
history  of  this  particular  congregation.  The  Frank- 
ford  Church  had  felt  the  violence  of  the  storm  which 
beat  upon  the  church  at  large,  and  was  well  nigh 
wrecked  by  it.     Just  before  the  rupture  of  the  whole 


OF  FRANKFORD.  IQl 

church,  this  little  branch  was  riven  and  so  beaten 
down  as  to  excite  the  fears  of  all,  except  a  few 
sanguine  friends  who  hoped  against  hope,  tliat  its  life 
was  extinct.  It  was  at  this  time  that  the  speaker 
became  acquainted  with  it. 

He  had  been  licensed  to  preach  in  October,  1837, 
and  during  the  winter  of  1837-8,  repeatedly  occupied 
this  pulpit.  Early  in  the  year  a  unanimous  call  was 
tendered  him  by  tlie  congregation,  which  he  accepted, 
and  on  the  13th  of  March  was  ordained  and  installed 
their  pastor.  At  that  time  the  Second  Presbytery  of 
Philadelphia,  under  whose  care  the  church  was  then, 
as  it  is  now,  consisted  of  sixteen  ministers,  among 
whom  were  Dr.  John  McDowell,  Dr.  William  Neill, 
Dr.  C.  C.  Cuyler,  Dr.  Robert  Steel,  and  Dr.  Courtlandt 
Van  Kensselaer.  What  havoc  has  the  third  of  a 
century  made  in  its  ranks  !  But  a  single  man  remains  ; 
Dr.  Silas  M.  Andrews,  who  was  then  connected  with 
it.  Nine,  if  not  ten  of  the  sixteen,  are  dead.  The 
industrious  McDowell,  the  eloquent  Neill,  the  wise 
Cuyler,  the  courteous  Steel,  and  that  model  man, 
Christian  and  minister,  Courtlandt  Van  Rensselaer,  are 
gone  ''  to  join  the  glorious  company  of  the  Apostles, 
the  goodly  fellowship  of  the  Prophets  and  the  noble 
army  of  the  Martyrs,"  in  the  services  of  the  upper 
sanctuary. 

9* 


1 02  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CHUR  CH 

At  the  time  the  new  pastor  was  inducted  into  office 
the  Church  was  in  a  very  feeble  condition.  The 
Sabbath  audiences  were  small,  not  exceeding  perhaps, 
on  the  most  inviting  days,  a  hundred  or  a  hundred 
and  sixty  persons.  With  few  exceptions  the  people 
were  poor,  and  could  only  afford  for  the  support  of 
their  minister  some  six  hundred  dollars  a  year. 

The  Church  roll  contained  from  eighty  toeighty-five 
names  ;  the  Sabbath-school  consisted  of  some  thirty  or 
thirty-five  children,  taught  by  five  or  six  teachers ; 
the  corporation  was  very  considerably  in  debt,  and  the 
Church  edifice,  and  indeed  the  whole  Church  property, 
was  in  a  very  unpropitious  condition. 

You  must  not  suppose  at  that  time  there  was  such  a 
tasteful  and  commodious  building  as  this.  Our 
temple  was  much  humbler,  though  to  the  speaker,  and 
peradventure  to  a  few  of  his  audience,  owing  to  the 
very  tender  memories  which  cluster  about  it,  even  a 
more  cherished  object  than  this.  It  was  a  small  but 
substantial  stone  edifice,  standing  nearly,  if  not  exactly 
on  the  same  spot  as  this  building,  and,  like  it,  fronting 
the  Main  street.  It  was  not  wholly  destitute  of 
architectural  pretensions.  The  front  door  and  win- 
dows presented  quite  a  church ly  appearance,  and  were 
certainly  creditable  to  the  taste  and  liberality  of  those 
who   erected   the   building.     The  rest  of  the  house, 


OF  FRANKFORD.  103 

both  inside  and  outside,  was  quite  plain.  It  was  but 
one  stoiy  in  height,  and  you  entered  the  audience 
chamber  directly  from  the  Church  lawn.  In  one  end 
of  the  house  was  a  small  gallery  which  accommodated 
the  choir,  and  also  aiforded  ample  room  for  the  tiny 
Sabbath-school ;  in  the  other  was  a  small  pulpit,  not 
much  larger  than  a  barrel,  which,  according  to  the 
strange  taste  of  the  times  in  which  it  was  built,  was 
put  as  far  from  the  people  and  as  near  the  ceiling  as 
might  be.  It  was  reached  by  a  single  flight  of  steep 
and  narrow  steps.  The  house  was  heated  by  two  coal 
stoves ;  one  of  good,  portly  dimensions  under  the 
gallery  and  immediately  within  the  front  doors,  pre- 
pared to  battle  with  Jack  Frost  at  the  very  threshold ; 
the  other  near  the  other  end  of  the  Church,  and  that 
with  the  double  purpose,  it  may  be,  of  protecting  the 
ends  of  the  pews  from  an  excess  of  heat  and  securing 
heat  of  some  sort  in  the  pulpit,  was  elevated  upon  a 
table  in  the  middle  aisle,  and  a  few  feet  from  the 
preacher.  This  stove,  with  its  tall,  slender,  rusty  pipe, 
which  ran  at  an  angle  of  perhaps  sixty  degrees  to  an 
opening  in  the  ceiling,  though  a  very  useful,  was  cer- 
tainly not  a  very  elegant  piece  of  furniture. 

From  the  centre  of  the  ceiling  was  suspended,  by  a 
huge  iron  rod,  a  glass  chandelier,  which,  doubtless, 
had  been  both  costly  and  beautiful,  but  which  at  the 


1 04  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CHUR  CH 

time  of  which  we  speak  was  much  the  worse  for  age. 
Indeed,  so  dilapidated  was  it,  tliat  though  your 
speaker  spent  some  days  of  anxious  and  patient  toil, 
and  no  little  ingenuity  withal,  upon  it,  he  was  unable 
to  put  it  in  even  tolerable  repair.  The  other  facilities 
for  lighting  the  Church  were  a  number  of  tin  sconces 
hung  upon  the  walls.  When  these  were  all  provided 
with  their  sperm  candles,  at  our  Sabbath  evening  ser- 
vices, we  were  furnished,  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the 
term,  with  a  "dim  religious  light." 

The  pews  were  remarkable  for  their  affluence  of 
lumber.  The  backs,  of  hardest  and  costliest  pine,  all 
innocent  of  upholstering  or  paint,  reached  well  up  to 
a  short  man's  neck.  The  walls  had  been  colored  with 
a  blue  wash,  which  the  most  skillful  and  persistent 
endeavors  could  never  cover  with  more  becoming 
white. 

But  the  appliances  for  administering  the  communion 
were,  perhaps,  more  unique  than  anything  else.  Of 
the  communion  service  itself  the  speaker  has  not  a 
distinct  remembrance.  He  recollects,  how^ever,  to 
have  found — though  whether  it  was  used  or  not  he 
cannot  say — in  a  closet  under  the  pulpit,  a  tankard, 
some  goblets,  and  possibly  plates — all  of  pewter,  and 
so  odd  and  antique  that  he  presumes  they  had  been 
handed  down  from  our  good  old  High  Dutch  prede- 


OF  FRANKFORD,  105 

cessors,  and  possibly  came  over  from  the  Fatherland 
much  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago.  But  our 
communion  table !  Ah !  it  would  have  thrown  a 
ritualist  into  convulsions.  It  was  a  small  stand,  the 
top  of  which  was  about  two  feet  square,  and  as  it  was 
not  high  enough,  when  standing  on  its  own  proper 
legs,  to  reach  the  top  of  the  ceiling,  which  enclosed  a 
little  chancel  in  which  the  minister  stood  whilst 
administering  the  ordinance,  there  were  four  sticks 
provided  which  were  tied  to  the  proper  limbs  of  the 
table,  by  which  a  cubit'or  two  were  added  to  its  stature. 
Eepeatedly  on  this  very  spot,  have  we  administered 
the  most  solemn  and  instructive  rite  of  our  holy 
religion  from  this  very  structure,  and  certain  are  we, 
with  not  less  comfort  and  edification  to  God's  dear 
people,  many  of  whom  are  now  in  heaven,  than  if  our 
communion  table  had  been  of  the  finest  Corinthian  brass 
and  the  service  of  burnished  gold.  "  What  is  the 
chafp  to  the  wheat  ?  saith  the  Lord." 

But  whilst  everything  was  thus  plain — perhaps 
some  will  think  rude — within  our  little  sanctuary,  the 
scene  without,  especially  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year, 
was  one  of  rare  beauty.  The  smooth,  green  sod, 
softer  than  an  Eastern  carpet ;  the  pleasant  shade  of 
numerous  trees,  and  especially  the  row  of  majestic  and 
graceful    elms   in    front,  unrivalled  in   this   country. 


106  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CHURCH 

perhaps  in  the  state,  which — alas  !  like  those  who 
planted  them  a  hundred  years  ago,  and  many  who 
have  admired  them  and  enjoyed  their  grateful  shade — 
have  passed  away ;  the  Sabbath  stillness  and  the 
subdued  light  streaming  in  at  the  open  door  and 
windows,  as  the  little  company  of  worshippers  waited 
on  God  in  the  ordinances  of  his  house  constituted  a 
picture  of  very  unusual  beauty. 

Though  they  w^re  a  little  flock  there  were  among 
them  some  godly  men  and  women  who  loved  the 
Church  for  its  own  and  its  Master's  sake,  and  who 
labored  prayerfully  and  earnestly  to  build  up  its  waste 
places.  Some  of  these  are  still  living  and  still  here, 
whom  to  mention,  therefore,  would  not  be  fitting. 
Some,  however,  have  been  taken  to  the  church  above, 
and  there  is  great  propriety  on  this  occasion  in  calling 
to  remembrance  their  names  and  services.  Prominent 
among  these  were  Mr.  George  Castor  and  his  most 
estimable  family ;  Mr.  John  D.  Harper,  who  was  ^'an 
Israelite  indeed  in  whom  ^'  there  was  "  no  guile,'' — to 
whom  more  than  to  any  other  one  the  congregation  is 
indebted  for  the  comfortable  parsonage  they  have  so 
long  possessed ;  Mrs.  John  Deal,  one  of  the  gentlest 
of  Christians,  a  lady  whose  life  was  spent  in  deeds  of 
charity  ;  Mrs.  David  Hunter,  whose  affection  for  the 
church  was  as  tender  as  a  mother's  for  her  child ;  Mrs. 


OF  FBANKFORD.  107 

Parthenia  Clark,  a  godly  widow  who  helped  as  much 
by  her  prayers ;  Mr.  Tennant  and  Mr.  FinlaysoD, 
the  one  a  canny,  the  other  a  fierce  Scot,  who  had  a 
passion  for  orthodoxy,  and  who,  at  three-score  years 
and  ten,  we  have  no  doubt,  would  have  been  ready  to 
shoulder  a  musket  in  defence  of  the  kirk  and  the 
crown  rights  of  King  Jesus. 

Mr.  Castor  was  a  man  of  iron  will  and  extraordi- 
nary energy,  and  as  he  had  considerable  substance  he 
was,  for  a  long  period  of  years,  an  efficient  friend  of 
tlie  congregation ;  and  to  his  family,  every  one  of 
whom  now  sleep  beside  him  in  the  little  cemetery 
adjoining,  this  Church  owes  a  deep  debt  of  gratitude. 
We  rejoice  to  be  able  to  say  that  not  only  Mr.  Castor, 
whose  generous  friendship  and  efficient  aid  in  our 
work  we  shall  ever  look  back  upon  with  especial 
pleasure ;  but  others  whom  I  have  mentioned  have 
left  descendants  who  still  live  to  love  this  Church  and 
to  labor  efficiently  for  its  prosperity.  There  were 
others  whose  names  in  the  hurry  of  writing  we  could 
not  recall.  Had  we  time  it  would  affi^rd  us  unfeigned 
pleasure  to  summon  their  names  to  our  memory,  and 
to  record  at  length  our  testimony  to  their  faithful  and 
self-denying  services ;  for  to  us  there  is  nothing  more 
grateful  than  to  accord  to  those  who  have  labored  with 
us  in  the  gospel  their  full  recompense  of  praise. 


108  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CHUR  CH 

From  time  to  time  others,  who  became  efficient 
helpers,  were  added  to  the  little  band.  Among  these 
was  om'  now  venerable  and  dear  friend,  Mrs.  Ham  ill, 
whose  husband  had  been  for  a  long  time  an  elder  in 
the  Seventh  Church  of  Philadelphia.  Mr.  Hamill 
never  worshipped  with  us.  He  came  here  only  to  die. 
Had  he  lived,  we  are  well  assured  the  little  Church 
would  have  found  in  him  a  most  valuable  acquisition 
to  its  strength,  and  the  young  pastor  a  very  efficient 
helper  in  his  work.  The  families  of  Dr.  George  T. 
McCallmont,  Mr.  George  F.  Womrath,  Mr.  John 
Wetherill,  jNIr.  Thomas  Wriggins,  JNIr.  William 
Blackburn,  Mr.  Samuel  C.  Ford,  Mrs.  Ball  and  her 
sons  Joseph  and  Charles,  cast  in  their  lot  with  us,  and 
from  these  households,  mainly  after  the  retirement  of 
the  speaker,  the  Church  derived  many  of  its  most 
consistent  members,  and  active  and  liberal  Christian 
workers. 

From  time  to  time  many  of  the  youth  whose  parents 
had  long  been  connected  with  the  congregation  became 
members  of  the  Church.  Among  these  were  members 
of  the  families  of  Mr.  Enoch  Arthur,  Mr.  Daniel 
Yonker,  Mrs.  Hubbs,  Mrs.  Quicksall,  Mrs.  Dewees, 
and  others.  There  were  several  families  to  whom  the 
Church  was  much  indebted,  who  did  not  live  within 
the  bounds  of  the  congregation,  but  who  still  retained 


OF  FRANKFORD.  1 09 

their  connection  with  it.  The  principal  of  these  were 
Mr.  Bela  Badger,  Mrs.  James  Hart,  his  daughter,  and 
Mrs.  Martha  Dungan,  his  sister-in-law.  Mr.  Badger 
was  a  liberal  man,  and  was  ever  ready  to  help  us  with 
his  counsel  and  his  purse.  These  families  did  much 
to  carry  forward  the  first  fairs  which  were  held  in  the 
congregation,  and  it  was  in  no  small  part  owing  to 
their  activity  and  liberality,  that  they  were  so  suc- 
cessful. During  the  summer  the  congregation  was 
increased,  the  treasury  somewhat  replenished,  and  the 
pastor  encouraged  by  the  presence  of  a  number  of 
families  from  Philadelphia,  whose  country  residences 
were  in  the  neighborhood.  Among  these  were  Comegys 
Paul,  of  the  First  Church,  James  N.  Dickson,  an  elder 
in  the  Sixth  Church,  Alexander  W.  Mitchell,  M.  D., 
an  elder  in  the  Tenth  Church,  William  McMain  and 
Dr.  Bergen.  In  the  early  part  of  the  ministry  of  the 
speaker  the  congregation  was  under  great  obligations 
to  Dr.  John  F.  Lamb.  Dr.  Lamb  was  a  somewhat 
remarkable  man,  and  though  he  subsequently  became 
alienated  from  the  congregation  and  withdrew  from 
it,  yet  he  was,  in  one  of  the  darkest  hours  of  its 
history,  an  efficient  friend.  Forgetting  everything 
that  was,  or  that  seemed  to  be  unkind  either  to  himself 
or  to  the  Church,  the  speaker  feels  himself  called  upon 
to  bear  this  testimony  in  favor  of  one  who  spent  a 
10 


110  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

long  life  in  this  community,  and  whose  ashes  now  lie 
in  yonder  little  church -yard. 

One  of  the  first  things  the  young  pastor  felt  called 
upon  to  do  was  to  endeavor  to  heal  the  breaches 
which  had  been  made  by  the  unhappy  controversy 
which  had  preceded  his  coming.  In  this  difficult 
task  he  was  singularly  aided  by  giving  heed  to  one 
word  dropped  by  a  wise  and  good  man.  That  word 
was  "Conciliation."  "A  soft  answer  turneth  away 
wrath."  So  we  found  it.  Conciliation  was  like  oil 
on  the  troubled  waters.  Families  which  had  been 
alienated  returned  to  the  congregation,  and  some  of 
these  were  among  the  most  valuable  families  we  had  ; 
friends  who  had  been  at  variance  were  reconciled ;  the 
past  was  forgotten  because  we  resolutely  refused  to 
allow  it  to  be  spoken  of;  and  ere  long  a  day  of  slow 
but  increasing  prosperity  dawned  upon  us.  From  the 
beginning  a  few  were  added  to  the  Church.  Very 
few  indeed  at  first,  but  still  enough  to  show  that  the 
work  had  the  Master^s  approval.  The  first  year  only 
seven — three  on  examination  and  four  on  certificate ; 
the  second,  fifteen — nine  on  examination  and  six  on 
certificate ;  the  third,  ten — two  on  examination,  and 
eight  on  certificate — and  so  on.  At  no  time  during 
the  first  ten  years  was  there  any  special  outpouring  of 
the  Spirit.     In  the  eleventh  and  last  year,  however,  a 


OF  FRANKFORD.  1 1 1 

gracious  visitation  was  enjoyed,  during  which  twenty- 
three  persons  were  received  into  the  Church  on  profes- 
sion of  their  faith,  which  though  not  absolutely,  was 
relatively,  a  large  number ;  and  it  was  regarded  as  a 
special  mark  of  the  divine  favor.  During  the  time  of 
the  speaker's  pastorate  there  were  added  to  the  church 
one  hundred  and  forty-two  persons — eighty-two  on 
examination  and  sixty  on  certificate,  nearly  doubling 
the  number  of  names  on  the  church  roll. 

Early  and  special  attention  was  given  to  the  chil- 
dren of  the  congregation.  Every  appliance  we  could 
command  to  increase  the  numbers  in  the  Sabbath- 
school  and  to  increase  its  efficiency  was  brought  into 
requisition.  Among  others  a  magic-lantern  was  pro- 
cured, and  as  often  as  possible  exhibitions  and  lectures 
on  Scripture  subjects  were  given,  not  only  to  the 
scholars  of  our  own  school  but  also  to  the  children  of 
the  town.  On  these  occasions  the  little  Church  was 
thronged  not  only  with  children,  but  also  with  men 
and  women,  who  seemed  to  take  just  as  much  pleasure 
in  looking  at  the  gay  pictures  and  listening  to  the 
simple  lectures  as  the  juveniles  themselves.  When 
the  speaker  came  among  this  people  there  was  a  faith- 
ful and  persistent,  though  very  small  band  of  Sab- 
bath-school teachers,  to  whose  ranks,  from  time  to 
time,  as  scholars  increased,  others  were  added,  until 


112  THE  FRESB  YTERIAN  CHUR  CH 

they  became  a  little  host.  Our  quarters  in  the  gallery 
were  presently  found  to  be  too  confined  for  us,  and  we 
were  obliged  to  betake  ourselves  to  the  body  of  the 
Church ;  and  in  process  of  time  the  little  sanctuary 
was  well-nigh  filled  with  scholars,  teachers  and 
school-officers.  In  eleven  years  we  had  grown  cer- 
tainly from  less  than  fifty  teachers  and  scholars  to 
over  three  hundred. 

One  of  the  most  pleasing  facts  in  this  connection  is 
that  quite  a  number  from  the  school  was  brought  into 
the  Church.  For  a  long  time  we  were  accustomed  to 
have  a  little  prayer-meeting  immediately  after  the 
exercises  of  the  school  were  over.  These  were  amonsr 
the  most  precious  meetings  the  speaker  ever  attended, 
and  he  believes  the  simple  services  conducted  on  these 
occasions  were  more  successful  in  gathering  souls  into 
the  fold  of  Christ  than  any  other  service  he  per- 
formed. The  Sabbath-school  was  emphatically  the 
nursery  of  the  Frankford  Church. 

Whilst  attending  to  these  more  important  matters, 
the  congregation  did  not  neglect  the  house  of  worship. 
To  all,  we  may  say,  to  a  few  especially,  the  very  stones 
and  dust  were  precious.  We  began  by  mending  our 
ways.  A  brick  pavement  was  laid  from  the  sidewalk 
on  the  street  to  the  front  door.  A  vestibule  was  parti- 
tioned off;  the  stoves  were  displaced  by  a  capacious 


OF  FRANKFORD.  113 

furnace  in  the  cellar ;  the  venerable  chandelier  and 
homely  sconces  were  succeeded  by  more  modern  and 
somewhat  splendid  fixtures,  to  burn  oil ;  the  lofty 
pulpit  was  taken  down  and  one  put  up,  which,  though 
plain,  was  really  not  only  convenient  but  also  beauti- 
ful. In  front  of  it  was  a  platform  which  was  fur- 
nished with  neat  mahogany  chairs  ;  the  little,  crippled 
communion  table  was  set  aside  for  the  one  which  is 
now  before  me;  a  new  communion  service  was  pro- 
cured ;  the  pews  were  taken  down,  remodelled  and 
painted;  the  depressing  blue  on  the  walls,  as  we  could 
do  nothing  else,  was  covered  with  a  coat  of  plaster  ; 
and  the  aisles  were  carpeted.  And  when  all  this  was 
done  we  had  as  pretty  a  little  village  church,  me- 
thinks,  as  could  have  been  found  within  the  limits  of 
our  broad  Commonwealth. 

The  funds  to  make  these  repairs  and  improvements, 
were  raised  in  considerable  part,  by  fairs  gotten  up 
and  conducted  by  the  ladies  of  the  congregation.  This 
was  at  a  time  when  fairs  were  not  so  common,  so  pro- 
fitable, nor  so  objectionable,  perad venture,  as  now. 
Ours  were  conducted  on  the  fairest  principle,  by  the 
fairest  ladies,  and  the  results  withal  were  very  fair — 
not  only  that  they  furnished  a  considerable  amount  of 
money,  but  they  also  taught  the  congregation  the  im- 
portance  of   combining    their    efforts,  and    working 

10* 


/ 


114  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CHURCH 

together  to  further  the  iDterests  of  Christ's  kingdom. 
About  1844,  if  we  remember  ariglit,  the  congrega- 
tion took  active  measures  to  build  a  parsonage,  con- 
structing it  in  such  a  way  as  to  secure  a  lecture-room 
under  the  same  roof.  The  house  was  finished  and  the 
lecture  room  furnished  at  a  cost  of  about  twenty-five 
hundred  dollars.  It  was  a  very  considerable  under- 
taking for  the  congregation  at  the  time,  but  as  it  was 
engaged  in,  after  much  deliberation  and  prayer,  with 
great  earnestness  and  resoluteness  of  purpose ;  in  due 
time  it  was  successfully  accomplished.  The  sub- 
scriptions were  not  in  money  alone,  but  in  material, 
labor  and  time.  One  for  example  gave  the  stone  in 
the  quarry,  others  took  it  out,  whilst  others  hauled  it. 
The  sash  was  all  painted,  and,  unless  our  memory  is 
at  fault,  every  pane  of  glass  put  into  them  by  Mr. 
John  D.  Harper,  assisted  by  the  unskillful  hands  of 
the  pastor.  He,  however,  as  we  can  testify,  became 
quite  an  expert  painter  and  glazier  before  the  work 
was  completed. 

Whilst  these  labors  were  being  carried  forward  iu 
Frankford,  there  were  several  places  in  the  surround- 
ing country  where  occasional  religious  services  were 
held.  One  of  these  was  at  a  school-house  on  Hart 
Lane,  between,  as  the  phrase  then  was,  Frankford  and 
the  city ;  another    at  Bustleton,  a  village  some  five 


OF  FRANKFORD,  115 

miles  to  the  north-west ;  and  a  third  at  Holmesburg, 
about  as  far  north.  At  this  latter  place,  where  several 
families  belonging  to  the  Church,  including  one  of  the 
elders,  Mr.  Robert  Pattison,  resided,  these  humble 
endeavors  proved  to  be  the  germ  of  a  church,  which, 
however,  was  not  organized  until  after  the  speaker  left. 
Gradually,  but  steadily,  under  the  smile  of  Heaven, 
the  little  church  grew.  The  people  were  united  and 
harmonious.  Their  pastor  had  their  confidence  and 
most  cheerful  assistance,  and  they  had  his  affection 
and  undivided  toil.  Thus  pleasantly,  and  through 
the  divine  favor  somewhat  usefully,  we  trust,  eleven 
years  and  upward  glided  by  very  quickly.  Those 
eleven  years  had  wrought  very  considerable  changes. 
When  the  period  began  the  congregation  was  feeble 
and  discouraged  ;  when  it  closed  it  was  comparatively 
strong  and  full  of  hope.  When  it  began  the  sanctu- 
ary was  by  no  means  comfortable — there  was  no  par- 
sonage, no  lecture-room,  considerably  less  than  a  hun- 
dred church  members,  the  Sabbath  congregations  were 
small,  and  the  Sabbath-schools  very  small.  When  it 
closed  the  church-building  was  a  sightly  and  most 
comfortable  house  of  prayer — there  was  a  good  par- 
sonage, a  small,  but  pleasant  lecture-room,  the  church- 
membership  had  been  doubled,  the  congregations  were 
more  than  doubled,  and  the  Sabbath -school  increased 


116  THE  PBESB  YTERIAN  CHUR  CH 

eight  or  ten-fold.  "  It  was  the  Lord's  doing."  To  him 
be  all  the  praise. 

The  speaker  is  grateful  to  the  Master,  that  he  per- 
mitted him  to  engage  in  his  work  here,  and  that  he 
gave  him  so  many  tokens  of  his  favor.  Not  the  least 
of  these  was  that  he  sent  him  such  a  man  as  he  did  as 
successor.  His  wise  and  faithful  labors  at  once  pre- 
served and  perpetuated  the  work  of  his  predecessor. 
And  among  all  who  are  here  to-day,  there  is  no  one 
who  more  heartily  congratulates  him  on  his  success. 
From  the  small  plant  which  we  left  and  he  found,  by 
the  help  of  the  Great  Head  of  the  Church,  he  has 
reared  a  majestic  and  fruitful  tree;  from  the  small 
beginnings  to  which  we  have  referred,  he  has  been 
enabled  to  raise  a  superstructure,  which,  every  one 
who  loves  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  his  blessed 
cause,  must  contemplate  with  delight.  It  is  worth  a 
life-time  to  do  such  a  work.  But  here  again,  we  say, 
"  It  is  the  Lord's  doing."     To  him  be  the  praise. 

And  now,  whatever  may  betide  the  speaker  or  this 
congregation,  whilst  memory  lasts,  he  shall  not  cease 
to  look  back  upon  his  residence  and  his  labors  among 
this  dear  people  with  the  tenderest  recollections ;  and 
when  his  work  is  done  he  hopes  to  meet  many,  to 
whom  he  here  brake  the  bread  of  life,  at  the  marriage 
supper  of  the  Lamb  in  Heaven. 


OF  FRANKFORD.  117 

Y. 

ANTHEM. 

SUNG    BY    THE    CHOIR. 

Jehovah's  praise. 

Chorus. 

Jehovah's  praise,  Jehovah's  praise,  in  high  immortal  strains 

Eesound,  ye  heavens,  through  all  the  blissful  plains. 

Solo, — Treble. 

His  glorious  power,  0  radiant  sun  display. 
Far  as  thy  vital  beams  diflfuse  the  day. 
Thou  silver  moon,  arrayed  in  softer  light, 
Kecount  his  wonders  to  the  list'ning  night. 
Let  all  thy  glitt'ring  train  attendant  wait, 
And  every  star  his  Maker's  name  repeat. 

Duett. —  Treble  and  Alto. 

Ye  glorious  angels,  tune  the  raptured  lay. 
Through  the  fair  mansions  of  eternal  day, 
His  praise  let  all  the  shining  ranks  proclaim, 
And  teach  the  distant  worlds  your  Maker's  name. 

Chorus. 

Bright  with  the  splendor  of  his  dazzling  rays, 
Exalted  realms  of  joy  reflect  his  praise. 


118  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHUROH 

VI. 
ADDEESS 

BY  THE  EEV.  CHARLES  HODGE,  D.  D.,  LL.D. 

Christian  friends,  I  find  my  name  on  this  pro- 
gramme, and  the  subject  assigned  me  is  ^'  The  Early 
History  of  Presbyterianism  in  this  Country,  and 
Reminiscences  of  Rev.  Dr.  Biggs."  As  I  purpose  to 
occupy  only  a  few  moments  of  your  time  this  after- 
noon T  shall  take  the  liberty  of  making  a  choice  of 
one  of  the  two  themes  assigned  me,  and  confine  what 
I  have  to  say  to  reminiscences  of  my  old  friend  and 
class-mate.  Though  it  is  more  than  fifty  years  since 
he  was  pastor  of  this  Church,  and  more  than  a  genera- 
tion of  men  have  passed  away  since  then,  I  know 
there  are  many  present  who  were  personally  acquainted 
with  him  during  his  pastoral  life,  and  still  more  who 
have  heard  of  him  from  their  parents  and  cherish  his 
memory  to  the  present  hour  with  fond  affection. 

It  was  in  the  year  1812,  fifty-eight  years  ago — it 
seems  almost  incredible — in  the  sophomore  recitation 
room  of  Princeton  College  the  roll  of  the  class  gradu- 
ating 1815  was  first  called.  At  that  period  in  the 
history  of  the  college  there  was  no  freshman, — or 
none  to  speak  of.  Allen,  Baker,  Biggs, — names  fami- 
liar from  1836  to  1840 — constituting  the  class,  of  whom 


OF  FBANKFORD.  119 

much  less  than  half,  probably  not  more  than  one- 
third  still  live.  As  might  have  been  expected  there 
was  a  great  diversity  in  the  age  and  degrees  of  pre- 
paration for  the  college  course  among  the  members  of 
this  class.  Dr.  Biggs  was  one  of  the  oldest  and  one 
of  the  best-prepared  for  the  curriculum  upon  which 
he  was  about  to  enter,  and  was  very  well  qualified  to 
teach  the  rest  of  us.  Almost  all  were  so  much  below 
him  in  the  standard  of  preparation  for  college  that  he 
was  well  qualified  to  be  our  tutor.  During  the  three 
years  we  remained  together  in  college,  and  the  two 
years  spent  in  the  theological  seminary,  we  were  very 
intimately  associated ;  so  that  I  have  the  clearest 
recollection  of  the  man  and  feel  qualified  to  bear  testi- 
mony in  the  midst  of  this  large  congregation,  to  the 
many  who  either  knew  or  have  heard  of  him  as  pas- 
tor of  this  church,  that  he  was  a  man  characterized 
then,  and  through  life,  by  wisdom,  goodness  and 
benevolence.  He  was  a  man  of  large  benevolence 
and  fine  feeling.  This  is  the  character  he  has  left 
impressed  upon  the  memories  of  the  people — a  wise, 
good,  amiable,  affectionate  man. 

His  associates  in  the  class  of  1815,  many  of  them, 
have  become  more  or  less  known  to  the  church  as 
preachers  of  the  gospel.  It  was  during  the  last  win- 
ter of  connection   in   college — the  winter  of   1815 — 


120  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CH UR CH 

that  that  revival  of  religion  within  the  walls  of 
Nassau  Hall  occurred,  which  is,  perhaps,  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  that  has  ever  been  known  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  college.  I  believe  at  least  twenty  minis- 
ters were  the  fruits  of  that  revival.  Twenty  young 
men  from  the  number  of  those  then  gathered  into  the 
church  consecrated  themselves  to  the  service  of  Christ 
in  the  ministry  of  reconciliation.  Dr.  Biggs,  how- 
ever, and  his  room-mate,  the  Rev.  Daniel  Baker,  had 
long  been  members  of  the  church,  and  it  was  largely 
to  their  influence,  to  the  wisdom  of  their  counsels,  to 
the  fidelity  of  their  admonition,  to  the  assiduity  of  their 
eiforts,  that  that  work  of  grace  was,  under  God,  so 
successfully  carried  on.  I  wish  I  could  summon 
around  me  some  of  the  men  who  were  then  in  college, 
and  ask  them  if  they  could  not  remember  the  room  of 
Biggs  and  Baker  in  the  north-western  part  of  that 
college  buildino;.  That  room  is  consecrated  in  the 
memory  of  many  yet  living.  There,  night  after 
night,  we  young  men  bowed  down  with  broken  hearts 
and  subdued  souls,  bathed  in  tears,  struggling  for 
eternal  life ;  and  those  men,  afterwards  so  prominent 
in  the  history  of  the  church,  were  all  to  guide,  to 
admonish,  to  point  to  Christ  and  bid  no  man  despair 
since  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  had  died.  Those  of  my 
hearers  who   have   lived   through   a   single  genuine. 


OF  FRANKFORD.  121 

orthodox  revival  will  never,  never  forget  it.  They 
know,  as  surely  as  they  know  their  existence,  that 
such  occasions  are  not  due  to  the  mere  working  of  the 
natural  feeling,  to  the  mere  moral  efficacy  of  the 
truth,  but  to  the  presence,  power,  and  controlling 
influence  of  God's  Holy  Spirit. 

I  should  like  to  be  indulged  for  a  few  minutes  in 
speaking  of  some  of  those  men,  who  were  then  in 
college.  One  was  the  Rev.  Daniel  Baker,  whose 
name  I  have  already  mentioned.  I  dare  say  there  is 
not  a  man  on  this  platform  who  has  not  heard  of  him. 
It  has  been  a  lesson  to  me,  it  may  be  a  lesson  to  some 
of  our  younger  brethren,  to  show  how  little  we  can 
forecast  the  future,  to  say  that  when  he  left  college  in 
1815,  he  refused  to  enter  the  Theological  Seminary  at 
Princeton,  and  gave  as  a  reason  that  he  intended  to 
spend  his  life  in  preaching  the  gospel  to  the  poor  in 
the  mountains  of  Virginia.  In  six  months  he  was 
licensed.  The  first  place  to  which  he  was  called,  was 
the  city  of  Savannah,  and  next  the  city  of  Washing- 
ton. That  was  tlie  way  God  ordained  things.  Gt>d 
had  given  him  natural  gifts,  however,  and  the  Spirit 
had  endued  him  with  certain  special  graces,  and  God 
sent  him  through  the  length  and  breadth  of  this  land 
as  an  evangelist,  or,  as  commonly  and  properly  called 
in  our  times,  a  revival  preacher ;  and  God  blessed  his 
11 


1 22  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CHUR  CH 

labors ;  and  there  he  is  (pointing  upwards)  before  the 
throne,  with  crowds  around  him  on  whom  he  can 
look  and  say,  '^  Here,  Lord,  are  the  souls  whom  thou 
hast  given  me." 

Another  of  our  classmates,  w^ho  w^as  specially  inti- 
mate with  your  former  pastor  during  his  college-life, 
was  Bishop  Johns,  of  Virginia,  our  first-honor-man. 
And  I  want  to  say  here,  as  I  speak  in  the  presence  of 
a  great  many  young  people,  that  his  character  and 
standing  in  college  and  in  the  seminary  and  after- 
wards as  a  preacher,  was  this — it  was  always  to  do 
his  best — always  to  do  his  best.  He  always  prepared 
for  every  recitation  the  best  way  he  could  ;  for  every 
oration  he  had  to  deliver  he  made  the  most  careful 
preparation  in  his  power — he  wrote  it  two  weeks 
before  delivered  and  had  it  committed  ;  and  so  when 
he  entered  the  ministry  it  was  the  same  way ;  and  I 
question  whether  there  is  any  man  in  the  American 
church,  who  has  done  more  good  than  he.  Always, 
young  brethren,  do  the  best  you  can. 

And  now  I  must  stop.  Here  we  are  where  Dr. 
Biggs  stood  and  preached.  My  dear  hearers,  do  you 
think  Dr.  Biggs'  influence  is  gone  ?  Men  of  science 
tell  us  that  force  is  indestructible.  Some  one  long  ago 
said,  though  perhaps  extravagantly,  that  every  word 
uttered  on  iho,  face  of  the  earth  is  still  pulsating  some- 


OF  FEANKFORB.  123 

where  in  the  regions  of  space.  But  the  sober  truth, 
scientifically  told,  is,  that  no  force  is  ever  lost.  And 
if  this  be  true  of  physical,  it  is  no  less  true  of  moral 
and  spiritual  forces.  No  word  ever  uttered  for  Christ 
loses  its  effect — never.  Every  impression  made  on  an 
immortal  soul  for  good,  continues,  still  operates, 
directly  or  indirectly,  and  will  operate  on  that  soul  to 
all  eternity.  Nor  is  that  all,  nor  is  that  a  thousandth 
part  of  the  truth.  No  such  impulse  imparted  to  one 
soul  fails  to  be  communicated  to  other  souls,  and  from 
others  to  others,  and  to  others  and  to  others,  till  it 
swells  and  extends  immeasurably.  O  ye  pastors, 
down-hearted  pastors,  who  think  you  are  doing 
nothing,  that  your  words  are  vain,  who  take  up  the 
lamentation  of  Isaiah  and  say,  ^^  Lord,  who  hath 
believed  our  report  ?  and  to  whom  is  the  arm  of  the 
Lord  revealed  ?"  oh,  remember,  you  have  never 
uttered  a  truth  that  will  not  last  in  its  influence  for 
ever.  Every  song  of  praise  to  Jesus  Christ,  my 
dear  hearer,  rings  through  all  space,  and  through  all 
eternity.  And  it  occurs  to  me — though  this  perhaps 
is  not  exactly  the  place  appropriate  to  say  it,  yet  I 
cannot  help  saying, — O,  ye  sons  of  men,  remember, 
that  every  wicked  influence  you  exert  upon  your 
fellow-men  lasts,  lasts  forever. 


1 24  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CHUR  CH 

VII. 

ANTHEM. 

SUNG    BY  THE    CHOIR. 

and  it  shall  come  to  pass. 
Bass.  Solo. 

And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  the  last  days,  that  the  mountain 
of  the  Lord's  house  shall  be  established  on  the  tops  of  the  moun- 
tains, 

And  be  exalted  above  the  hills. 

Choeus, 

And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  &c. 

And  all  nations  shall  flow  unto  it, 

And  many  people  shall  go,  and  say, 

Come  ye,  and  let  us  go  up  to  the  mountain  of  the  Lord  :  to 
the  house  of  the  God  of  Jacob, 

And  he  will  teach  us  of  his  ways  and  we  will  walk,  will  walk 
in  his  ways.  For  out  of  Zion  shall  go  forth  the  law,  and  the 
word  of  the  Lord  from  Jerusalem. 


VIII. 
ADDRESS. 

BY  THE  EEV.  JAMES  M'COSH,  D.D.  LL.D. 

When  your  pastor  invited  me  to  be  present  on  this 
occasion  of  the  centennial  anniversary  of  your  Church, 
I  was  induced  to  accept  his  kind  invitation  partly 
because  he  came  to  me  with  an  Irish   tongue,  and   I 


OF  FRANKFORD.  1 25 

had  some  evidence  that  he  had  an  Irish  heart.  But 
that  was  not  all.  He  has  a  very  promising  boy  in 
our  college  at  Princeton,  who,  if  he  continues  as  he 
has  begun,  will  prove  himself  worthy  of  his  father ; 
and  I  thought  as  you  had  sent  this  boy  to  Princeton, 
I  must  return  the  compliment  by  coming  to  see  you. 

I  see  that  I  am  expected  to  speak  of  Presbyterian- 
ism  and  an  educated  ministry.  In  doing  so  I  may 
say,  I  believe  in  the  holy  Catholic  church — not  the 
holy  Romish  Church,  for  I  am  not  sure  that  she  is 
entitled  to  be  called  holy,  and  I  do  not  believe  the 
Komish  church  is  the  Catholic  church.  Notwith- 
standing, I  do  believe  in  the  Catholic  church  and  the 
communion  of  saints.  I  believe  the  church  is  one ;  I 
believe  therefore  in  other  portions  of  the  church  of 
Christ,  that  do  not  agree  \\\t\\  us  Presbyterians  in 
every  thing.  I  have  great  pleasure  in  holding  fellow- 
ship with  Episcopalians,  Methodists,  Baptists ;  indeed 
I  do  not  think  of  any  leading  denomination  in  Great 
Britain  or  Ireland,  w^ith  which  I  have  not  had  plea- 
sant connection,  doing  some  small  service  for  them, 
and  receiving  far  greater  benefit  in  return.  But  still 
we  are  met  here  as  a  body  of  Presbyterians,  with  our 
friends  of  other  denominations  whom  we  are  glad  to 
see  here,  and  it  is  therefore  allowable  for  us,  once  in  a 
hundred  years,  to  speak  a  little  about  Presbyterianism. 

11* 


126  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CHURCH 

We  believe  Presbyterianism  is  founded  on  the  word 
of  God,  and  agreeable  thereto  ;  but  as  an  organization 
of  the  church,  separate  from  other  organizations,  it 
began  in  the  era  of  the  Reformation.  It  was  bred  in 
a  mountain  country,  Switzerland,  transplanted  into 
Scotland ;  came  to  the  north  of  Ireland ;  and  thence 
was  transported  to  America,  and  has  flourished  and 
taken  deep  root  here.  There  is  one  characteristic  of 
this  church  which  I  wish  especially  to  bring  before 
you  on  this  occasion,  and  that  is  the  close  and  intimate 
connection,  throughout  its  whole  history,  that  has 
existed  between  Presbyterianism  and  education.  I 
believe  Protestantism  in  itself  is  favorable  to  en- 
lightenment ;  it  cannot  subsist  except  among  a  people 
taught  in  the  word  of  God.  Presbyterianism,  in 
particular,  from  the  fact  that  it  is  an  organic  system, 
at  an  early  date  sought  to  establish  a  system  of  schools 
— lower  schools,  upper  schools,  higher  schools  or 
academies,  and  colleges  or  universities.  It  did  so  in 
Geneva,  the  place  of  its  birth.  Travelling  in  Switzer- 
land you  can  tell  whether  you  are  in  a  Protestant 
canton,  or  in  a  Roman  Catholic  canton,  by  five 
minutes'  conversation.  But  the  system  of  elementary 
education  was  first  organized  in  Scotland.  I  know 
that  something  is  claimed  for  the  United  States  of 
America  as  the  first  to  organize  a  system  of  common 


OF  FRANKFORD.  127 

schools ;  but  the  principle  that  every  parish  ought  to 
have  a  school,  and  that  every  child  has  a  right  to  be 
educated,  was  undoubtedly  first  announced  by  John 
Knox ;  and  not  only  did  he  announce  this  as  a  specu- 
lative principle,  but  he  put  it  into  execution ;  and 
when  he  died,  there  was  a  school  in  every  parish 
except  a  few  of  the  most  remote,  and  an  academy  in 
every  important  town,  and  no  less  than  four  universi- 
ties in  that  comparatively  small  country ;  and  ever 
since  that  time,  the  Presbyterian  church  has  had  an 
educated  ministry.  The  Presbyterian  church  in  Scot- 
land has  passed  through  many  and  great  difficulties. 
For  twenty-eight  years  her  communicants  were  hunted 
upon  the  mountains;  yet  descended  from  that  noble 
old  Scot,  they  stood  up  for  the  independence  of  the 
church,  and  resisted  foreign  aggression,  though  subject 
ted  thereby  to  imprisonment  and  death ;  and  during 
those  twenty-eight  years  they  insisted  that  the  great 
body  of  their  ministers  should  be  thoroughly  educated. 
In  that  country  they  require,  first,  attendance  upon 
some  college  for  four  years,  then  at  a  theological 
school  three,  four  or  six  years;  and  it  is  only  after 
they  have  gone  through  this  process,  that  they  are 
considered  prepared  to  enter  upon  the  ministry.  They 
hold  that  to  build  up  the  Christian  church,  men 
should  be   well-educated,  highly  cultivated,  able    to 


128  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CHURCH 

bring  out  of  the  treasury  things  new  and  old, 
thoroughly  conversant  with  the  language  In  which 
the  Scriptures  were  written,  and  with  the  word  of 
God  as  a  system,  and  with  the  history  of  the  church 
In  various  ages ;  and  thus  fit  Instruments  In  the 
hands  of  God,  to  enlighten  the  people  from  Sabbath 
to  Sabbath.  That  Is  the  principle  laid  down  by  the 
Presbyterian  church  in  Scotland,  and  continued  from 
the  time  of  John  Knox  in  1660,  to  this  day. 

The  church  passed  through  that  country  into 
Ireland,  and  there  It  has  been  the  happiest  educational 
agency  that  has  been  employed — I  may  say  the  only 
agency  within  the  last  four  years.  In  the  north  of 
Ireland,  you  will  find  the  people  Industrious  and 
moral.  Crime  is  scarcely  known  among  them  ;  half  a 
dozen  policemen  keep  the  whole  of  northern  Ireland 
in  order.  If  you  go  Into  prisons  you  will  find  not 
above  two  in  a  hundred  that  are  Presbyterians. 
Parents  educate  their  children,  even  where  it  is  a 
matter  of  very  great  Inconvenience.  In  this  country 
also  you  find  an  educated  ministry.  In  Ireland  every 
person  In  ordinary  circumstances,  intended  for  the 
ministry,  is  required  to  go  at  least  three  years  to  some 
college — very  commonly  now  Queen's  College.  He  is 
subjected  to  a  very  rigid  examination  before  entering, 
and  again   at   the  close.     He   then   pursues  a   three 


OF  FRANKFORD.  129 

years'  course  in  the  theological  seminary,  where  the 
professors  are  men  of  great  learning  and  ability.  The 
order  recognized  there  is  that  a  man  must  first  be 
called  of  God,  and  then  educated,  and  sent  forth  to 
the  work  of  the  ministry. 

Now,  it  was  out  of  Scotland,  not  directly,  as  out  of 
Scotland  in  Ireland — what  you  call  in  this  country  the 
Scotch-Irish,  that  the  great  Presbyterian  churches,  with 
the  exception  of  the  Dutch  Reformed,  have  come,  em- 
bracing now,  I  believe,  somewhere  about  six  thousand 
congregations.  And  these  men  brought  over  with 
them  the  principles  in  which  they  had  been  taught  in 
Scotland  and  Ireland  ;  and  throughout  the  whole  his- 
tory of  the  Presbyterian  church  what  has  been  the 
fact  ?  Schools  have  sprung  up  here  and  there,  fitted 
to  impart  a  higher  education,  and  theological  semina- 
ries for  the  education  of  young  men  for  the  ministry. 
Princeton  was  primarily  established  for  the  purpose 
of  educating  those  who  felt  themselves  called  to 
preach  the  gospel ;  but  others  have  availed  themselves 
of  its  advantages,  so  that  not  half  the  young  men 
educated  there  intend  entering  the  ministry.  During 
the  last  two  or  three  weeks  as  the  result  of  the  work 
of  God  there,  a  larger  number  are  looking  forward  to 
the  ministry  than  for  many  years,  and  some  of  them 
have  their  minds  fixed  on  missionary  fields. 


1 30  THE  FRESB  YTERIAN  CHUR  CH 

We  are  proud,  in  this  country,  as  in  Scotland,  of 
oar  elementary  schools.  I  think  we  ought  to  be 
proud  .  of  them.  America  owes  its  greatness,  not 
merely  to  its  political  institutions,  however  admirable, 
but  to  two  things — first,  to  the  religion  of  the  people, 
and  second,  to  its  elementary  schools  and  its  col- 
leges. This  national  system  of  education  when  in 
danger  must  be  resolutely  defended  by  every  patriot 
(apjilause).  But  while  we  are  and  ought  to  be  proud 
of  our  elementary  schools,  and  defend  them  at  all 
hazards,  there  is  another  agency  at  work  in  promoting 
education.  When  visiting  Germany,  some  years  ago, 
I  devoted  considerable  time  inquiring  into  the  educa- 
tion of  that  country.  I  found  there  a  system  of  edu- 
cation equal,  superior  in  many  respects — not  in  all — 
to  that  which  is  to  be  found  either  in  Scotland  or  the 
United  States — even  in  Massachusetts,  which  takes 
the  lead ;  yet  I  did  not  find  in  Germany,  from  very 
close  intercourse,  so  much  reading  and  higher  culture. 
What  is  the  reason  ?  The  Germans  have  no  Sabbath  ; 
and  what  is  the  consequence  ?  I  find  there  the  people 
on  the  Sabbath  morning  toiling  from  six  o'clock  until 
after  mid-day.  They  have  no  time  for  reading.  The 
afternoons  and  evenings  are  spent  at  the  beer  and 
dancing  gardens.  They  have  no  time  for  reading  or 
reflection.     And  what  is  the  cause  of  all  this  ? 


OF  FRANKFORD.  1 31 

The  rationalistic  doctrines  tauo-ht  them.  As  a  con- 
sequence  of  this  state  of  things  the  Germans  are  less 
intelligent  than  the  Protestants  of  Scotland,  Ireland 
and  America,  who  receive  a  great  deal  of  their  most 
valuable  instruction  on  the  Lord's  Day. 

I  would  say  nothing  against  any  denomination,  but, 
nevertheless,  I  congratulate  that  people  who  have  an 
educated  ministry  to  preach  to  them  from  Sabbath  to 
Sabbath.  It  is  a  great  advantage  to  parents  to  have 
in  the  pulpit  on  the  Lord's  day  ministers  well-edu- 
cated and  thoughtful — who  can  draw  from  nature  as 
well  as  the  word  of  God,  to  illustrate  and  enforce 
divine  truth.  I  believe,  therefore,  that  the  people  of 
Scotland,  the  north  of  Ireland,  and  the  Presbyterian 
church  of  America  have  been  rewarded  for  insisting 
upon  an  educated  ministry.  I  believe  it  is  of  the 
utmost  moment  for  you  parents  to  have  an  educated 
ministry. 

Now  I  must  give  a  practical  application  to  all  this. 
It  is  a  hobby  of  mine — but  I  trust  it  will  become 
everybody's,  and  then  it  will  cease  to  be  mine — that  I 
do  not  think  the  ministry  of  this  country  is  paid  as  it 
ought  to  be.  What  do  you  require  of  your  ministers  ? 
First  to  go  to  school  three,  four  or  five  years  not 
necessary  for  others;  then  to  spend  four  years  in  col- 
lege, and   afterwards   several   years   at   a  theological 


132  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CH  UE  CB 

seminary.  All  this  is  attended  with  considerable 
expense.  Here  are,  say  ten  years  of  time,  spent  in 
preparation  for  his  calling,  during  which  he  receives 
nothing  and  is  an  expense  ;  and  yet  there  are  not  a 
few  congregations  that  pay  their  ministers  less  than  a 
mechanic  receives.  What  does  the  word  of  God  say  ? 
"  Let  him  that  is  taught  in  the  word  of  God  commu- 
nicate unto  him  that  teacheth  in  all  good  things."  If 
there  is  a  duty  on  the  part  of  the  church  as  an  eccle- 
siastical body  to  see  its  ministers  educated,  there  is 
also  a  duty  to  see  them  something  like  adequately 
remunerated.  I  would  not  have  you  make  your  pas- 
tor wealthy.  You  over-feed  some  while  many  have 
not  enough  for  comfort.  There  should  be  a  greater 
equality.  Those  who  minister  to  you  in  holy  things 
should  receive  such  compensation  for  their  services  as 
will  place  them  above  carking  cares  about  temporal 
matters. 

In  concluding  I  have  to  thank  your  pastor  for 
bringing  me  here  to  see  this  assembly.  I  believe  it 
right  to  commemorate  what  men  did  in  seasons 
closing.  I  think  it  is  proper  for  us  to  remember  the 
men  that  by  faith  and  patience  established  churches  in 
our  land ;  and  when  a  hundred  years  run  their  course 
I  hope  this  Church  will  then  be  the  grandmother,  and 
great-grandmother,  to  other  churches;  and,  at  a  meet- 


OF  FRANKFORD.  133 

ing  like  this  they  will  thank  God  for  the  effort  made 
a  hundred  years  ago. 


IX. 

HYMN. 

READ   BY   THE   REV.    B.    L.    AGNEW. 

SUNO  BY  THE  CHOIR  AND  CONGREGATION. 

Joyfully,  joyfully  onward  we  move, 
Bound  to  the  land  of  bright  spirits  above ; 
Angelic  choristers  sing  as  we  come. 
Joyfully,  joyfully  haste  to  your  home  : 
Soon,  with  our  pilgrimage  ended  below, 
Home  to  the  land  of  bright  spirits  we  go, 
Pilgrims  and  strangers  no  more  shall  we  roam, 
Joyfully,  joyfully  resting  at  home. 

Friends,  fondly  cherished,  have  passed  on  before, 
Waiting,  they  watch  us  approaching  the  shore; 
Singing  to  cheer  us  through  death's  chilling  gloom 
Joyfully,  joyfully  haste  to  your  home. 
Sounds  of  sweet  melody  fall  on  the  ear. 
Harps  of  the  blessed,  your  voices  we  hear  ; 
Kings  with  the  harmony  heaven's  high  dome, 
Joyfully,  joyfully  haste  to  your  home. 

Death  with  his  weapons  may  soon  lay  us  low, 
Safe  in  our  Saviour,  we  fear  not  the  blow. 
Jesus  hath  broken  the  bars  of  the  tomb, 
Joyfully,  joyfully  will  we  go  home. 
12 


134  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

Bright  will  the  morn  of  eternity  dawn, 
Death  shall  be  conquered,  his  sceptre  be  gone; 
Over  the  plains  of  blest  Canaan  we'll  roam, 
Joyfully,  joyfully  with  Christ  at  home. 


X. 

BENEDICTION. 

BY  THE  REV.  J.  GRIER  RALSTON,  D.  J).,  LL.D. 


Evening  Exercises,  7J  o'clock. 


THE  REV.  J.  ADDISON  HENRY,  PRESIDING. 


I. 

INVOCATION. 

BY  THE   REV.    CALVIN   W.    FERRIDAY. 

OTHOU  most  high,  great,  and  true  God,  who  art 
faithful  to  thy  promise  and  dost  love  those  that 
come  unto  thee,  who  art  infinite,  eternal,  and  un- 
changeable in  thy  being,  wisdom,  power,  holiness, 
justice,  goodness  and  truth  ;  with  whom  a  thousand 
years  are  as  one  day,  and  one  day  as  a  thousand  years! 
we  most  humbly  invoke  thy  divine  presence  during 
our  services  this  evening.  Deign  to  dwell  here.  Lord 
God;  sanctify  every  heart;  may  the  words  of  truth 
we  hear  be  implanted  in  our  hearts,  and  bring  forth 
the  fruits  of  righteousness  to  the  glory  of  thy  holy 
name  through  Jesus  Christ.     Amen. 

135 


136  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CHUR  CH 

11. 

ANTHEM. 

STJNG     BY    THE     CHOIR. 

Sentence. 

0  how  lovely. 


Choeits. 


Oh  how  lovely  is  Zion,  city  of  our  God. 
Joy  and  peace  shall  dwell  in  thee. 


III. 
PRAYER,  i 

BY  THE   EEV.    J.    B.    DAVIS. 

O  Thou  from  wliom  all  blessings  flow,  again  would 
we  come  into  thy  sacred  presence ;  with  adoring 
reverence  and  with  grateful  hearts  would  we  recognize 
thy  goodness  and  mercy  to  us  this  day !  O  God,  we 
thank  thee  for  the  position  we  occupy  to-day !  We 
thank  thee,  O  God,  for  the  precious  remembrances  of 
the  past,  which  we  have  to-day  cherished  !  We  thank 
thee  for  the  pleasing  anticipations  which  we  are  per- 
mitted to  cherish,  in  reference  to  the  future.  We 
thank  thee  for  the  evidence  we  have  to-day,  that  this 
vine  is  a  vine  of  thine  own  planting.  We  thank  thee 
for  all  the  tokens  of  favor  and  mercy,  which  thou  hast 


OF  FRANKFORD,  137 

shown  thy  servants  who  have  done  the  "work  in  this 
part  of  thy  vineyard  in  days  gone  by.  We  thank 
thee  for  all  the  influences  for  good,  which  have  been 
set  in  operation  liere,  which  shall  continue  to  be  felt 
as  long  as  eternity  shall  last.  O,  our  Father,  we 
thank  thee  for  the  pleasing  emotions  that  have  to-day 
been  awakened  in  our  souls !  We  thank  thee  for  the 
important  lessons  we  here  today  learn — lessons 
learned  from  the  past,  which  we  trugt  shall  be  for 
good  to  us  and  others  in  the  future.  We  thank  thee 
for  all  our  eyes  have  seen  and  for  all  our  ears  have 
this  day  heard.  Now,  O  God,  we  pray  that  thy  pre- 
sence may  be  with  us  to-night,  that  thy  heavenly 
benediction  may  rest  upon  us  in  the  progress  of  these 
services.  Wilt  thou  assist  those  who  shall  take  part 
in  them,  and  touch  their  lips  as  with  a  live  coal  from 
off  thine  altar ;  and  may  everything  that  shall  be  said 
be  accompanied  with  thy  blessing  and  have  a  salutary 
influence  upon  all. 

W^e  ask  that  thy  blessing  may  rest  upon  this 
Church.  Wilt  thou  continue  here  to  dwell  and  to 
follow  with  thy  blessing,  the  use  of  the  means  of 
grace ;  and  grant  that  many  precious  souls  may  yet 
be  here  gathered  into  thy  fold  and  kingdom.  Oh 
grant,  we  pray  thee,  that  thy  special  blessing  may 
rest  upon  thy  servant  who  is  permitted  to  close  the 

12* 


138  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

work  of  a  centuryj  here  under  circumstances  of  such 
mercy  and  such  interest.  May  his  bow  continue  to 
abide  in  strength,  and  may  thy  presence  be  with  him 
in  the  future  as  in  the  past.  Grant,  O  God,  we  pray, 
that  the  influence  of  this  day  may  strengthen  his 
hands,  and  that  he  may  be  greatly  encouraged  and 
blessed  in  his  work  in  the  future,  and  more  from  this 
day  forth  than  ever  before. 

Let  thy  heavenly  benediction  rest  upon  this  com- 
pany of  immortal  souls,  and  may  those  of  us  who 
wait  and  worship  here  to-day  be  gathered,  all  of  us, 
at  last  to  worship  before  thy  throne  above,  we  ask  for 
Jesus^  sake.     Amen. 


lY. 
ADDRESS 

BY    HON.    JOSEPH    ALLIS0:N',    LL.D. 

I  will  commence  my  remarks  by  a  confession — in 
advance  of  what  I  shall  have  to  say  to  you.  It  has 
been  promised  for  me  that  my  special  theme  shall  be 
the  founders  of  the  Presbytei'ian  church  in  Philadel- 
phia. I  am  not  able  to  speak  to  you  on  this  subject 
as  I  could  wish  to  do ;  it  is  one  that  might  be  made 
of  interest  to  a   Philadelphia  audience,  if  time  could 


OF  FRANKFORD.  139 

be  taken  to  investigate  it  and  present  it  in  its  proper 
order  and  arrangement.  But  it  would  not  interest 
you  to  be  told  why  my  remarks  must  be  of  a  more 
general  nature  than  I  desire  them  to  be ;  I  have  made 
one  confession — let  that  suffice.  We  are  assembled 
upon  an  occasion  that  is  of  much  interest,  not  to  you 
only  who  are  residents  of  Frankford,  but  to  all  who 
are  permitted  to  meet  with  you  to-night  and  join 
in  the  thanksgiving  for  the  blessing  which  has  been 
conferred  on  you,  permitting  you  to  celebrate  the  hun- 
dredth anniversary  of  the  organization  of  your 
Church.  Churches,  like  individuals,  have  their  his- 
tory ;  they  rise  and  flourish  for  a  time,  but  many  of 
them  long,  long  before  their  hundredth  anniversary 
die  and  are  forgotten  :  they  pass  away  as  if  they  had 
never  been.  But  the  good  providence  of  God  has 
kept  this  Church  together,  and  the  small  congregation 
which,  a  century  ago,  was  here  organized,  is  permitted 
after  so  many  years  of  trial  and  varied  fortune  to 
rejoice  in  a  prosperity  which  is  an  evidence  of  Hea- 
ven's favor  to  it. 

I  read  with  great  pleasure  in  one  of  our  evening 
papers,  as  I  rode  out  to  this  meeting,  the  very  inter- 
esting and  instructive  address  made  to  you  by  your 
most  excellent  pastor  this  morning;  and  as  he  spoke 
of  the  handful   of  men  who,  a  century  ago,  gathered 


1 40  THE  PRESB  YTEBIAN  CHUB  CH 

in  this  borough  to  organize  themselves  into  a  church, 
professing  substantially  the  faith  which  you  profess 
and  maintain  to-day,  I  thought  it  was  a  favor  which 
was  not  given  to  every  one  who  ministers  at  the  altar, 
to  be  permitted  to  dig  up  the  foundation  stones  of  the 
church  of  which  he  is  bishop,  and  present  them  to  his 
people  as  the  treasured  memorials  of  their  past  his- 
tory. It  reminded  me  of  a  picture  Scott  has  drawn 
of  Old  Mortality,  who  upon  the  moors  and  upon  the 
mountains  of  his  native  Scotland,  devoted  his  life 
to  the  perpetuation  of  the  memory  of  the  martyrs 
who  died  for  the  faith  as  it  is  in  Jesus  Christ.  I 
saw  before  me  his  picture  of  that  old  man  with  his 
little  pony,  his  saddle  of  straw  and  bridle  of  rope,  his 
chisel  and  mallet ;  I  thought  I  could  see  him  as  he  is 
represented,  pausing  in  his  work  of  retracing  upon 
the  tombs  and  grave-stones  of  the  dead,  who  died  for 
"  Christ's  crown  and  covenant,"  the  names  of  the 
sainted  heroes  of  his  native  land ;  doing  what  he  could 
to  preserve  the  memory  of  the  martyrs  who  perished 
by  torture,  by  famine,  by  fire  and  by  sword,  in  cave, 
and  in  dungeon,  and  wherever  the  arm  of  a  bloody 
persecution  could  reach  them.  I  thought  as  I  read 
the  address  to  which  I  have  referred,  that  you  have 
an  Old  Mortality  here  among  you,  who,  as  a  labor  of 
love,  had  used  his  chisel  and  mallet  and  brought  out 


OF  FRANKFORD.  141 

again,  in  bold  relief,  the  names  of  the  men  who  a 
hundred  years  ago  in  Frankford  founded  the  organi- 
zation of  which  you  are  the  representatives  and  the 
embodiment  to-day.  And  I  wish  I  had  it  in  my 
power  to  do  for  you  that  which  I  had  hoped  to  do  ; 
supplement  the  work  of  your  pastor,  and  bring  before 
you  the  history  of  some  of  those  who  in  Philadelphia, 
even  before  the  organization  of  this  congregation, 
labored  to  found  in  this  land  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  the  counterpart  of  the  Church  of  Scotland. 

It  is  more  than  a  hundred  and  ninety  years  since 
the  first  Presbyterian  church  was  constituted  in  this 
city ;  a  handful  of  believers,  who  long  hesitated  as  to 
whether  they  had  strength  and  faith  enough  to  assume 
the  responsibility  of  an  organization,  took  to  them- 
selves the  name  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  the 
city  of  Philadelphia.  In  1701,  the  Pev.  Mr.  Andrews 
was  installed  the  pastor  of  that  congregation.  For  a 
long  time  Presbyterian  ism  w^as  not  a  very  great  suc- 
cess in  the  Quaker  City.  Many  years  passed  by  and 
it  numbered  but  four  congregations.  Then  Philadel- 
phia, comparatively  speaking,  was  but  a  village  ;  now 
it  is  a  city  of  nearly  eight  hundred  thousand  people ; 
and  the  germ  that  was  then  planted  has  grown  with 
our  growth,  strengthened  with  our  strength,  and  Pres- 
byterianism   here   to-day  may  claim  to   be   a   power 


142  THE  PBESB  YTERIAN  CHURCH 

among  the  denominations.  I  say  this  not  in  the  spirit 
of  vain  glory ;  not  for  the  purpose  of  contrasting  our 
position  witli  that  of  others  to  their  disadvantage.  I 
speak  merely  of  the  fact  as  it  exists,  and  ask  you  to 
_look  at  its  numerous  organizations ;  its  churches ;  the 
numbers,  power,  influence,  and  wealth  of  the  member- 
ship of  these  churches.  And  when  you  reflect  that  it 
was  only  in  1701  that  the  first  church  had  a  pastor 
installed  over  it,  have  we  not  as  a  denomination  rea- 
son to  believe  that  the  power  which  has  enabled  us  as 
a  body  thus  to  make  progress,  has  not  been  of  man  but 
of  God  ?  That  he  has  counselled  our  counsellors ; 
that  he  has  led  them  and  us  in  the  way  in  which  we 
have  been  able  to  walk,  and  for  all  our  prosperity  to- 
day we  have  reason  to  give  thanks. 

One  element  of  success  to  which  we  owe  much,  and 
which  belongs  perhaps  to  all  organizations  in  the 
United  States,  is,  that  we  are  not  as  they  are  in  other 
lands,  without  diversity  in  unity.  AYe  have  in  this 
country  the  combination  of  elements  that  has  formed 
us  into  a  peculiar  people,  and  this  peculiarity  is 
stamped  upon  the  Presbyterian  churches  of  our  land. 
For  while  we  hold  to  the  same  system  of  doctrine, 
have  the  same  standard  with  Presbyterian  churches 
in  other  countries,  we  have  a  life  and  a  spirit  that  are 
especially  our  own.     Any  one  who  will  look    over 


OF  FRANKFORD.  143 

the  records  of  the  early  history  of  Presbyterianism  in 
Philadelphia,  will  find  that  it  was  made  up  of  men 
from  Old  England,  and  from  New  England  ;  from 
Ireland,  from  Scotland  and  from  Wales.  It  is  the 
fusion  of  tliis  varied,  and  to  some  extent  conflicting, 
material,  that  has  made  us  wdiat  we  are,  partaking 
somewhat  of  the  virtues  and  the  faults  of  all.  And 
if  you  will  permit  me,  I  will  here  say  that  the  Pres- 
byterian church  in  this  city  and  of  our  entire  country 
is  indebted,  in  no  small  degree,  to  the  country  from 
which  you  and  I  claim  to  have  our  origin.  The 
names  of  Andrews  and  Cross,  and  Finley  and  Ten- 
nent  indicate  who  the  master  workmen  were,  and 
from  whence  they  came,  that  laid  deep,  and  broad,  and 
solid,  the  foundations  of  our  church  in  this  city  and 
its  vicinity. 

The  North  of  Ireland  sent  to  us  large  stores  of 
treasure — more  valuable  far  than  gold,  or  silver,  or 
precious  stones;  it  sent  her  men,  eminent  for  their 
piety  and  learning,  to  minister  in  our  pulpits ;  and 
with  them  came  a  tide  of  immigration  that  bore  upon 
its  waves,  the  people  who  have  always  stood  firm  in 
their  faith  in  God,  adhering  with  unflinching  tenacity 
to  their  stern  and  rigid  Calvinism  :  by  which  sign 
they  conquered.  One  name  among  the  leaders  of 
these  hosts  is  worthy  of  special  mention.     If  he  were 


1 44  THE  PEESB  YTERIAN  CHUB  CH 

alive  to-day,  our  country  could  not  repay  to  Gilbert 
William  Tennent  the  debt  it  would  owe  to  him,  who, 
single-handed,  established  in  the  adjoining  county  of 
Bucks,  his  humble  Log  College.  His  object  was  to 
provide  an  educated  ministry  for  the  Presbyterian 
church  of  this  country ;  and  how  fully  his  purpose 
has  been  attained,  you  will  all  undeMand  when  I 
mention  the  fact,  known  to  many  here  to-night,  that 
the  Log  College,  founded  in  what  was  then  almost  a 
wilderness,  bloomed  into  Princeton  College  and 
Seminary.  Four  sons  of  the  founder  of  the  Log 
College  followed  in  the  footsteps  of  their  father ;  trained 
in  his  own  school  they  preached  the  gospel  to  the 
people,  generally  to  the  Presbyterians  of  this  region, 
round  about  where  we  are  assembled  to-night.  One 
of  these  brothers,  Gilbert  Tennent,  was  pre-eminent  in 
his  day  as  a  man  of  power,  whose  ministry  was  blessed 
as  instrumental  to  the  conversion  of  many  souls. 

At  this  early  period,  and  associated  with  the  Ten- 
nents,  came  to  our  shores  Whitefield,  whose  evangelistic 
labors  were  so  greatly  blessed  that  to  this  day  and  to 
the  end  of  time,  men  shall  not  cease  to  be  the  better 
for  his  ministry  here.  The  Presbyterian  church  was 
greatly  aroused  and  quickened  by  his  voice,  which 
spoke  for  God  to  his  audiences  often  thousand  people, 
as  it  were  with  the  voice  of  a  trumpet. 


OF  FRANKFORD.  1 45 

These  are  some  of  the  instrumentalities  which  were 
made  use  of  to  establish  the  Presbyterian  church  in 
this  portion  of  our  country  ;  and  whatever  degree  of 
prosperity  has  been  given  us,  we  owe  much,  more  than 
can  ever  be  known  on  earth,  to  the  agencies  to  which 
I  have  referred. 

I  now  leave  this  aspect  of  the  subject;  may  I  speak 
for  a  moment,  not  of  the  past  but  of  the  future — of 
what  cfur  church  may  yet  hope  to  accomplish  ?  Never 
had  it  a  brighter  prospect;  we  have  perfect  peace 
within  our  borders,  and  we  are  therefore  prepared  to 
consecrate  ourselves  to  the  work  which  is  laid  upon 
us;  the  vital  question  is;  Will  we  do  it"?  Our  spe- 
cial field  is  our  country ;  our  general  field  is  the 
world  ;  and  the  command  is,  "  Go  into  my  vineyard, 
and  work."  And  while  we  work  let  us  not  forget  to 
hold  fast  to  the  form  of  sound  doctrine ;  but  more 
careful  still  to  maintain  our  faith  and  hope  in  Him  who 
is  the  resurrection  and  the  life.  Let  us  take  courage 
from  the  fact  that  we  have  been  preserved  from  falling 
into  fatal  error  of  doctrine ;  that  God  has  encamped 
about  our  church,  and  guarded  us  from  defection  and 
apostasy  which  he  has  suffered  to  fall  upon  other 
churches.  The  mere  intelligence  of  the  Calvinistic 
churches  of  New  England,  did  not  prevent  the 
descendants  of  the  Pilgrim   Fathers,  who  endured  so 

13 


]  46  THE  PBESB  YTERIAN  CHUR  CH 

much  for  conscience'  sake,  from  lapsing  into  Unita- 
rianism ;  and  even  the  Church  of  Holland,  with  its 
glorious  history,  which  belongs  to  its  better  and  purer 
days,  has  been  given  over  to  Rationalism  and  unbe- 
lief. Our  safety  is  in  our  dependence  upon  the  divine 
arm  ;   there  and  there  only  may  we  ever  rest. 

About  two  years  ago  I  was  in  another  city  of 
Frankford,  several  thousand  miles  distant  from  us. 
It  was  a  great  pleasure  to  follow  as  far  as  I  was  able 
in  the  footsteps  of  Luther,  in  that  city  where  he  lived 
for  several  years.  I  visited  repeatedly  the  church  in 
which  he  preached  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformation, 
and  felt  while  there,  that  I  stood  upon  ground  more 
holy,  than  when  under  the  roof  of  the  old  cathedral, 
where  for  centuries  the  emperors  of  the  German 
Empire  were  elected  and  crowned.  I  went  from 
Frankford,  to  the  city  of  Worms  and  stood  beneath 
the  spreading  branches  of  the  magnificent  tree,  at 
whose  foot  Luther  rested  before  entering  the  city  to 
appear  before  the  Emperor  and  his  Diet,  to  answer  for 
his  faith  ;  and  where  he  replied  to  the  warning  from 
his  friends, 

'•'I  will  fulfil  my  promise,  in  answer  to  the  summons  of 
Charles,  though  there  be  as  many  devils  in  Worms  as  there  are 
tiles  upon  the  roofs  of  the  houses." 


OF  FRANKFORD.  147 

And  again  I  stood  where  Luther  stood  before  the  em- 
bodhnent  of  the  power  of  the  Empire;  and  when 
called  upon  to  reoant,  raising  his  hands  and  eyes  to 
heaven,  he  exclaimed — 

"  Here  I  stand,  I  cannot  go  forward,  I  cannot  go   backward. 
So  help  me  God." 

I  thought  then,  as  I  believe  now,  that  there  is  a  vital, 
sustaining,  life-giving  power  in  the  fundamental 
doctrine,  on  which  Luther  planted  himself,  of  justifi- 
cation hy  faith.  Upon  this  rock  may  this  Church  ever 
rest. 

In  conclusion  I  renew  my  congratulations  to  you, 
the  minister  of  this  Church,  and  to  the  people  of  your 
charge.  I  congratulate  you  all  on  your  prosperous 
condition,  and  hope  that  your  twenty  years'  pastorate 
over  this  congregation  may  have  added  to  it  many  years 
of  increasing  usefulness  and  happiness.  And  when 
another  century  shall  have  ended  its  course  may  you 
and  your  co-laborers  have  as  much  justice  done  to 
you,  by  one  who  shall  as  faithfully  revive  your  deeds 
in  connection  with  this  organization,  as  you  have  done 
for  those  who  one  hundred  years  ago  here  lived  and 
labored  as  pastors  and  members  of  this  Church. 


148  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 


Y. 
ANTHEM. 

SUNG    BY    THE    CHOIR. 

I'll  wash  my  hands  in  innocency. 

Duett  and  Choeus. 
I'll  wash  my*hands  in  innocency, 

0  Lord,  and  so  will  I  go  to  thine  altar. 

^o-LO.— Treble. 
That  I  may  show  the  voice  of  thanksgiving, 
And  tell  of  all  thy  wondrous  works. 

Solo. — Bass. 
Lord,  I  have  loved  the  habitation  of  thine  house,  and  the  place 
where  thine  honor  dwelleth. 

Duett. —  Trebles. 

1  will  walk,  I  will  walk  innocently, 

0  deliver  me,  0  deliver  me, 
And  be  merciful  unto  me. 

Chorus. 

1  will  praise  the  Lord  in  the  congregation. 


OF  FRANKFORD.  149 

YI. 
ADDRESS 

BY   THE    REV.    E.   R.    BEADLE,    D.  D.,    LL.  D. 

This  change  in  the  programme  will  cause  no  incon- 
venience to  you,  probably,  while  it  relieves  me  from  a 
personal  and  somewhat  trying  embarrassment  which 
has  been  pressing  upon  me  all  the  afternoon  to  solve 
the  problem — "  What  shall  the  man  do  wiio  comes  after 
the  king  ?'^  We  have  heard  a  good  deal  to-day  about 
Presbyterianism.  It  runs  in  my  blood.  But  I  am 
sorry  that  I  have  not  heard  one  word  said  to-day  about 
old-fashioned  Presbyterianism.  I  am  asked  to  speak 
(as  this  programme  indicates)  on  Presbyterianism  and 
Missions — as  if  these  two  were  not  one.  They  mean 
precisely  the  same  thing.  The  very  first  missionaries 
that  ever  went  out  to  preach  the  gospel  of  Christ  were 
Presbyterians,  and  Peter  was  one  of  them  (laughter). 
If  they  w'ere  not  Presbyterians,  if  each  man  was  not 
a,  presbuteros,  I  would  like  to  know  what  he  was.  So 
that  our  church,  as  our  good  friend  at  the  head  of 
Princeton  stated — at  least  implied — did  not  begin  at 
Geneva ;  it  only  sprang  up  again  there.  All  the  mis- 
sionaries and  elders  in  the   early  church  were  presby- 

13* 


1 50  THE  FRESB  YTERIAN  CH  UE  CH 


\ 


ters — there  was  the  beginning  of  the  Presbyterian 
church.  Then  in  later  years  there  came  the  Wal- 
denses.  Driven  out  of  tlie  Roman  Catholic  Church 
they  became  Presbyterians  in  fact.  Every  congrega- 
tion had  a  consistory, — made  up  of  a  minister,  an 
elder,  and  a  deacon.  Is  not  that  Presbyterianism  ? 
The  Huguenots  were  Presbyterians.  They  accepted 
the  doctrines  and  government  of  Calvin,  they  filled 
France  with  their  blood  as  with  their  faith,  they  came 
to  America  and  settled  through  New  Jersey,  and  went 
down  into  Maryland  and  the  Carolinas,  and  found 
their  way  to  Boston — the  hub  of  the  universe.  And 
then  from  Geneva  there  was  another  spring  flowing  in 
this  old-fashioned  style,  and  it  burst  up  in  Scotland  ; 
and  that  church  in  Scotland  is  remarkable  for  two 
things — martyrs  and  missions.  We  have  been  told 
that  some  of  the  noblest  men  in  the  Presbyterian 
church  in  America  came  from  Scotland.  In  1701,  as 
you  have  heard,  they  landed  and  gathered  about 
Philadelphia  in  little  flocks,  and  just  one  year  after 
landing  they  had  a  pastor  and  a  church  established. 
They  had  no  railroads  then  nor  hotels,  but  went  on 
horseback  through  this  then  wilderness  to  preach  the 
gospel . 

In   1709,  good   old   Scotland,  which    I  love  as  I  do 
the  land  in  which  I  was  born,  sent  the  first  missionary 


OF  FRANKFORD.  151 

to  heathendom;  and  where  do  yon  suppose  he  went? 
Why,  where  we  want  missionaries  to  go  now — to 
Long  Island  (laughter).  The  very  first  missionary  of 
the  Presbyterian  church  ever  sent  to  heathendom 
went  to  Long  Island ;  and  the  next  missionary  of  the 
Presbyterian  church  sent  out  on  this  continent  was 
David  Brainerd.  Did  you  ever  hear  of  him  ?  You 
go  up  to  Easton,  some  of  you.  There,  where  Lafayette 
College  is  located,  Brainerd  preached  to  the  Indians. 
And  in  some  portions  of  New  Jersey  he  wrought  a 
work  that  has  never  been  paralleled  on  the  face  of  this 
globe.  He  was  a  Presbyterian.  And  then  there  was 
John  H.  Rice,  who  toiled  among  the  Africans  of  Vir- 
ginia when  he  could  have  filled  the  first  pulpits  of  the 
land.  He  was  another  of  our  early  missionaries. 
And  then  there  were  those  old  Scotch-Irish,  of  whom 
you  will  hear  from  the  speaker  who  is  to  follow  me. 
They  were  bent  on  preaching  the  gospel  to  the  regions 
bevond,  and  Beverido-e  was  sent  on  horseback  from 
Philadelphia  to  Caledonia  in  Canada,  to  hunt  up 
some  Scotch  Highlanders  that  were  understood  to  be 
living  there.  There  was  a  Mr.  Harvey  reported  to  be 
a  chief  man  amono;  them.  He  hunted  throuo-h  the 
wilderness,  and  by  and  by  got  track  of  him  ;  found 
his  cabin  and  knocked  at  his  door.  '^  Come  in,''  said 
a  broad  Scotch  voice ;  he  went  in  and  found  a  man  on 


1 52  THE  PEESB  YTERIAN  CHUR  CH 

a  shoemaker's  bench,  mending  an  old  shoe ;  he  kept 
on  with  his  work,  never  looking  up  at  all.  Beveridge 
said  nothing  for  a  moment,  but  at  length  inquired, 
"Do  you  want  any  preaching  here?"  I.aying  down 
his  tools  and  springing  to  his  feet,  ^^  Yes,"  said  he, 
"we  do."  That  was  the  beginning  of  the  missionary 
work  in  that  country  that  has  grown  into  Presbyteries 
and  Synods  and  poured  its  revenues  into  the  kingdom 
of  God.  That  is  the  way  Presbyterians  worked  on 
with  their  missions.  Look  at  the  work  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Board  of  Missions — at  what  it  has  done  for 
the  Indians  in  our  country — what  it  is  doing  in 
Africa,  and  in  Japan,  and  in  the  Indies.  Oh,  how 
my  heart  flutters  when  I  say  that  word !  What 
has  the  Presbyterian  church  done  in  India?  Some 
of  the  best  missionary  blood  shed  since  tlie  days  of 
the  early  martyrs  has  been  shed  in  India.  And  in 
China,  look  at  what  our  Presbyterian  church  is 
doing ! 

.We  have  heard  much  of  what  has  been  done  for  the 
last  hundred  years  for  this  church.  Depend  upon  it, 
ours  has  not  been  a  Rip  V^an  Winkle  sleep.  We 
have  been  growing  through  all  this  century  with  these 
changes  and  this  progress.  We  have  not  awakened 
to-day  in  Frankford,  to  find  for  the  first  time  that  we 
can  go  to  Philade]{)hia  by  steam.     I  remember  myself 


OF  FRANKFORD.  153 

—and  I  am  not  so  gray  as  some  men  here — the  time 
when  it  was  said  in  my  hearing, 

"  You  can  go  in  the  stage  all  the  way  from  Albany  to  Coopers- 
town,  N.  Y.,  sixty  miles,  in  twenty-four  hours,  by  riding  night 
and  day/'  (laughter.) 

And  I  can  remember  when  you  could  go  all  the  way 
from  Utica  to  Rochester  by  canal  packet — at  the  rate 
of  six  miles  an  hour  (laughter).  Yes,  I  have  heard 
that,  and  have  lived  to  see  the  prediction  of  Stevenson 
made  good.  When  asked  what  he  thought  about 
locomotives,  he  ventured,  very  tremblingly,  to  say,  he 
hoped  he  should  live  to  see  the  time  when  locomotives 
would  draw  trains  on  railways,  with  freight  cars 
attached,  at  the  rate  of  twelve  miles  an  hour ;  and 
afterwards  he  said  he  wanted  to  say  twenty,  but  did 
not  dare  to.  Now,  sir,  you  and  I  have  gone  from 
Liverpool  to  London,  over  and  over  again,  at  the  rate 
of  sixty  miles  an  hour. 

Now,  I  wish  just  to  ask  you  from  this  advanced 
point  in  history,  from  this  advanced  point  in  Presby- 
terian ism,  what  you  mean  to  do  for  the  next  century. 
A  hundred  years  have  passed.  This  Church  is  not  to- 
day as  it  was  a  hundred  years  ago.  You  have  already 
heard  that.  God  is  going  before  you,  and  bringing 
you  up  to  a  high  place  in  Israel,  and  now  he  asks  you 


154  THE  FRESB  YTERIA  N  CHUR  CH 

what  you  are  going  to  do  for  tho  time  to  come.  The 
great  work  of  missions  is  only  begun,  and  God  is 
sounding  to  a  quicker  march  everywhere^  and  espe- 
cially to  you  and  to  us  in  this  land. 

I  sweep  away  as  by  magic,  for  an  instant,  a  hun- 
dred years  to  come.  We  heard  from  the  eloquent 
gentleman  before  me,  the  hope  expressed  that  when 
this  hundred  years  were  passed,  there  should  be  an  in- 
gathering here  lilvc  this  ;  and  when  another  century 
shall  have  succeeded,  that  it  should  be  repeated  ;  but 
I  believe  that  when  tliat  hundred  years  have  been 
told  and  there  shall  gather  on  this  soil,  perhaps  on 
this  very  spot,  a  congregation  to  recite  the  records  of 
the  past,  they  will  not  come  here  to  tell  of  an  edifice 
built  anew,  with  all  the  modern  improvements  on  the 
ground  where  this  shall  have  worn  down  to  the  dust, 
they  will  not  come  here  to  felicitate  one  another,  that 
a  Presbyterian  church  is  a  hard  thing  to  kill,  as  we 
heard  this  morning,  but  they  will  come  here,  as  I 
believe,  to  say  and  to  sing,  ^^  The  world  is  won  for 
Christ." 


OF  FRANKFORD.  1 55 

VII. 

HYMN, 

READ   BY  THE   REV.  W.  R.  WORK. 

SUNG    BY    THE     CHOIR    AND    CONGREGATION. 
MY  DAYS  AEE  GLIDING  SWIFTLY. 

My  days  are  gliding  swiftly  by, 

And  I  a  pilgrim  stranger, 
Would  not  detain  them  as  they  fly, 

These  hours  of  toil  and  danger  ; 

For  oh,  we  stand  on  Jordan's  strand, 

Our  friends  are  passing  over. 
And  just  before,  the  shining  shore 

We  may  almost  discover. 

We'll  gird  our  loins,  my  brethren  dear, 

Our  distant  home  discerning  ; 
Our  absent  Lord  has  left  us  word, 

Let  every  lamp  be  burning  ; 
For  oh,  we  stand,  <fec. 

Should  coming  days  be  cold  and  dark. 

We  need  not  cease  our  singing ; 
That  perfect  rest  naught  can  molest. 

Where  angel  harps  are  ringing  ; 
For  oh,  we  stand,  &c. 


156  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CHUR  CH 

Let  sorrow's  rudest  tempest  blow,  \ 

Each  cord  on  earth  to  sever ; 
Our  King  says,  "  Come,"  and  there's  our  home 

For  ever,  oh,  for  ever. 
For  oh,  we  stand,  &c. 


YIIL 
ADDRESS, 

BY  THE  REV.  JOHN  HALL,  D.  D.,  OF  NEW  YORK. 

My  Christian  Friends: — It  gives  me  great  pleasure, 
upon  this  special  occasiou,  to  address  a  few  words  to 
this  magnificent  audience,  who  seem  to  show  their 
deep  interest  in  the  occasion  by  the  patience  with 
which  they  remain  here  after  the  lengthened,  and,  I 
doubt  not,  deeply  interesting  services  of  the  day.  My 
brother,  Dr.  Beadle,  asked  the  question,  "  What  is 
the  man  to  do  who  comes  after  the  king  ?" — putting 
me  in  that  position.  Dr.  Beadle  ought  to  know  there 
is  no  king  here.  This  is  a  commonwealth,  it  is  an 
American  republic,  and  there  is  no  king  on  this  plat- 
form. Presbyterianism  is  republicanism,  too,  of  the 
truest  and  best  order;  and  we  are  all  brethren.  We 
all  stand  on  a  level,  and  have  no  king  and  no  master 
but  Jesus  Christ,  King  and  Head  of  the  church. 

I  am  to  speak  to  you  of  a  section  of  the  population 


OF  FRA  NKFORD.  15? 

and  a  constituent  element  in  one  of  the  great  churches 
into  whose  heart  this  conviction  has,  I  may  say,  been 
burned  by  long  and  painful  experience ;  I  am  to  speak 
to  you  of  the  Scotch-Irish,  and  yet  it  is  necessary  to 
define  the  term  in  the  very  beginning.  These  people 
are  not  Scotch,  for  they  were  not  born  in  Scotland  ; 
and  they  are  not  Irish,  for  they  do  not  belong  to  Ire- 
land, and  do  not  speak  the  tongue,  and  do  not  inherit 
the  traditions.  They  are  people  who,  two  centuries 
ago — nearly  three  centuries,  some  of  them — crossed 
over  from  Scotland  into  Ireland  and  remained  there 
until  a  very  considerable  number  of  them  saw  good 
reason  to  leave  Ireland  and  come  to  this  continent. 
When  we  speak  of  the  Irish,  properly  speaking,  our 
Roman  Catholic  fellow-citizens  are  more  particularly 
described  ;  when  we  speak  of  the  Scotch-Irish  you 
may  be  tolerably  confident  we  are  speaking  of  the 
Presbyterian  people,  who  come,  for  the  most  part, 
from  the  northern  province.  As  you  pass  along  the 
northern  shore  of  Ireland  and  look  across  the  water, 
at  a  distance  of  thirteen  or  fourteen  miles,  you  can  see 
the  Scottish  land  ;  so  it  is  not  difficult  to  see  how  it 
was  the  Scotch  people  accepted  the  invitation  extended 
to  them,  and  passed  over  in  the  days  of  persecution 
and  took  possession  of  the  county  of  Antrim  and 
adjacent  parts  of  that  country.  When  they  went  into 
14 


158  THE  PRESS  YTERIAN  CHUR CH 

Ireland  they  found  it,  morally  and  physically,  in  a 
most  wretched  condition.  War  had  swept  over  the 
land ;  a  great  deal  of  Ulster  was  covered  with  rocks 
and  bogs;  but  the  industry,  patience  and  energy  of  the 
Scotch  people,  and  their  religious  principles,  speedily 
succeeded  in  making  Ulster  one  of  the  most  happy 
and  prosperous  provinces  of  the  land. 

The  Scotch  people  who  settled  there  soon  began  to 

desire  ministers.     I  am   sorry  to  say  it  is  not  always 

the  best  part  of  the  population  that  move  away,  and 

there  is  good  reason   to  believe  that  it  was  so  in  this 

case.     In   many  cases   it  was  people  broken   down  in 

means  and  reputation  that  left,  and  there  was  need  of 

some  religious  change  among  them.     It  pleased  God 

in  a  most  remarkable  manner  to  bless  the  labors  of  his 

servants  among  the  Scotch   people  settled  in  Ireland. 

It  is  one  of  the  glorious  things  about  the  church  there 

that  it  was  planted  in  the  midst  of  glorious  revivals, 

and  the  people   became  earnest,  devoted   Christians. 

They  needed  all  that  earnestness.     As  many  know,  an 

effort  was  made  on  the  part  of  the  government  to  set 

up  the  Established  Church,  and  many  persons  began 

to  look  upon   these  Presbyterians  as  standing  in  their 

way.     You  can  easily  fancy  what  class  of  annoyances 

they  were  subjected  to  when   I  tell  you  that  for  a  very 

long  time  the  ministers  had  no  license  to  preach,  and 


OF  FRANKFORD.  159 

were  liable  to   be  imprisoned  for   marrying  their  own 
parishioners.     They  durst  not  set  up  an  institution  for 
training  ministers,  or  even  a   day-school   oftentimes; 
and  yet  in  face  of  these  difficulties,  strange  to  say,  not 
merely   through    continued    migration,    but   through 
natural  growth  and  increase,  the  Presbyterian  people 
multiplied  in  Ireland;  and  it  might  be  said  of  them, 
as  of  Israel  in  Egypt,  the  more  they  were  afflicted  the 
more  they  grew.     Many  of  these  people  engaged  in 
agricultural  pursuits  and  soon  became  very  desirable 
as  tenants.     Consequently  land  owners  held  out  great 
encouragement  to  them  to  farm,  giving  them  leases  for 
thirty  years.     Subsequently  the  question   of    tenant- 
rights — which  has  given  so  much  trouble  in  Ireland 
— arose ;  and  the  people,  unwilling  to   submit  to  the 
oppression  of  the  land-owners,  clubbed  together  and 
came  over  as  congregations  and  established  themselves 
in  America,  bringing  their  ministers  with  them,  thus 
contributing  largely  to  lay  the  foundation  of  Presby- 
terianism  in  this  country. 

It  would  be  interesting,  if  I  had  time,  to  put  before 
you  some  of  the  characteristics  of  the  people.  I  think  of 
one  clergyman  who  belonged  to  the  seceding  branch  of 
the  Presbyterian  church  in  Ulster.  Annoyances  were 
put  in  his  way,  and  these  difficulties  became  so  very 
great,  that  at  length,  he  left  the  country.     Three  hun- 


160  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CH  UR  CH 

dred  of  his  people  and  himself  took  passage  in  a  ship 
sailing  from  a  creek  called  Narrow  Water,  from  which 
no  ship  of  any  size  could  have  sailed,  and  coming  to 
this  country  settled  in  Carolina  where  he  labored  with 
the  same  fidelity  as  in  Ireland.  At  length  this  man 
died  sitting  in  his  chair,  and  it  is  reported  that  on  the 
table  before  him,  when  he  died,  there  was  a  pastoral 
letter  written  by  himself  to  the  congregation  in  Ire- 
land— which  he  had  left  nearly  thirty  years  before. 

From  the  year  1730  until  about  the  middle  of  the 
last  century,  it  has  been  estimated  that  there  came 
from  Ulster,  probably,  twelve  thousand  people  every 
year.  I  had  the  pleasure  of  going  back  to  ray  native 
land  last  summer  and  visiting  my  home.  I  remem- 
ber walking  over  the  parish  with  my  brother,  who 
lived  in  the  neighborhood  and  knew  all  the  people. 
We  were  comparing  notes,  speaking  of  the  boys  and 
girls  whom  we  knew  as  children,  and  were  surprised 
to  find  as  we  passed  from  house  to  house,  scarcely  one 
family  from  which  young  and  vigorous  men  and  boys 
and  women  had  not  taken  their  departure  for 
America ;  and  yet  in  that  neighborhood  there  are  as 
many  Presbyterian  churches  as  when  I  was  a  child, 
and  just  as  many  people  to  fill  them. 

If  any  one  will  take  the  trouble  to  look  over  the 
history  of  America  he  will  be  surprised  to  find  what 


OF  FRANKFORD.  16 1 

a  laro;e  number  of  the  leadino-  men  of  America  were 
from  the  northern  province  of  Ireland,  or  their 
descendants.  Robert  Fulton,  who  may  be  recognized 
as  the  father  of  our  river  navigation,  was  the  child  of 
comparatively  poor  Irish  parents.  The  founder  and 
first  class-leader  of  the  Methodist  church  in  this 
country — a  great  and  mighty  church  that  has  done  a 
world  of  good,  and  is  destined  to  do  a  great  deal  more 
— was  the  son  of  comparatively  poor  Irish  peasants. 

In  the  year  1760,  a  memorial  was  sent  from  the 
corporation  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  and  from  the 
city  of  New  York,  representing  the  extremely  dis- 
tressed condition  of  the  Presbyterian  ministers,  their 
wives  and  children,  who  had  come  and  settled  in  what 
were  then  uncongenial  and  inhospitable  climes.  They 
were  then  colonies  of  Great  Britain.  It  was  believed 
they  had  some  claim  upon  the  mother  country ;  and  I 
am  glad  to  say  the  Irish  Presbyterian  Church 
responded  to  that  claim. 

It  is  very  natural  to  inquire  what  particular  adapta- 
tion the  Scotch  people  had,  for  doing  any  good  in  this 
country,  taking  their  place  among  the  brotherhood  of 
churches.  It  is  my  own  opinion  that  the  Scotch  are 
very  much  improved  by  living  two  or  three  genera- 
tions in  Ireland.  I  have  great  respect  for  Scotchmen, 
but  a    Scotchman   and   I,  talking  about  this    matter 

14* 


162  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CHVR  CH 

last  week,  agreed  together  that  but  for  the  grace 
of  God,  the  Scotch  would  be  a  very  unamiable 
class  of  men.  They  are  a  little  slow  and  rugged, 
a  little  stern  with  a  good  deal  of  real  wit  in  some 
of  them — but  not  characteristic  of  them  as  a  people. 
Now  when  they  go  to  Ireland  and  live  there  for 
three  or  four  generations  they  become  a  little 
brighter,  quicker,  gentler  and  more  ready  to  appre- 
ciate a  good  thing.  Some  one  has  said  that  it  requires 
something  like  a  surgical  operation,  to  make  a  Scotch- 
man appreciate  a  joke.  There  is,  on  the  contrary, 
great  readiness  on  the  part  of  my  countrymen  in 
repartee.  A  story  is  told  of  one  of  them  who,  seeing 
a  lady  relieved  of  her  parasol  by  a  gust  of  wind, 
picked  it  up  and  returned  it  to  her,  saying, 

'*Ah!  ma'am,  if  you  were  as  strong  as  you  are  pretty,  the 
wind  would  not  have  taken  it  out  of  your  hand.'' 

My  countrymen  are  a  very  prolific  race.  A  good 
Irish  clergyman  that  I  used  to  know,  when  some  one 
congratulated  him  upon  the  birth  of  the  eleventh 
child,  feeling  at  the  same  time  that  perhaps  he  was 
more  to  be  pitied,  replied, 

*'  Well,  God  never  sends  a  mouth  but  he  sends  something  to 
put  into  it." 

The  poor  are  blessed  with  a  large  number  of  children 


OF  FRANKFORD.  163 

usually,  and  on  this  principle  there  has  been  such  a 
continuous  stream  of  emigration  from  Ulster;  and  yet 
the  population  of  that  country  is  not  diminished.  It 
is  told  of  the  father  of  John  Wesley,  himself  a  poor 
clergyman,  that  he  was  rich  upon  his  forty  pounds 
and  a  baby  every  year ;  and  yet  what  a  wonderful 
blessing  came  through  God's  care  of  that  household,  so 
poor  in  the  resources  of  this  world,  but  rich  in  graces 
and  gifts  that  made  them  a  blessing  to  their  kind  ! 

These  Scotch-Irish  were  staunch  to  the  truth  they 
had  learned  from  their  parents  and  their  ministers, 
and  especially  from  their  Bibles;  and  well  was  it 
burned  into  them  by  the  persecution  they  experienced ; 
it  was  wrought  into  their  very  nature ;  their  minds 
were  stored  with  it.  It  was  well  that  a  strong-headed 
and  hardy  people  like  them  should  come  to  this 
country,  when  in  its  formation  state,  and  impress  upon 
it  a  staunch,  deep  love  of  truth  and  a  willingness  to 
support  it  at  all  hazards. 

Another  thing  fitted  this  people  in  a  high  degree 
for  taking  a  place  in  this  country.  You  know  how 
much  importance  Presbyterians  always  attached  to  the 
catechism.  (Having  happily  illustrated  the  advantage 
of  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  doctrines  of  the 
church  as  set  forth  in  the  catechism,  the  speaker  pro- 
ceeded.) 


1 64  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CHUR  CH 

I  cannot  help  thinking,  also,  that  another  reason 
why  this  people  have  been  the  means  of  bringing 
some  good  to  this  country,  has  been  that  by  their  very 
history,  they  were  taught  the  value  of  freedom  of  con- 
science. A  people  pervaded  through  and  through 
with  this  principle,  cannot  easily  be  enslaved.  They 
are  subject  only  to  the  Lord  their  Creator.  No  men 
were  wiser  in  counsel,  readier  with  their  purse,  braver 
on  the  field,  than  these  same  Scotch-Irish  Presby- 
terians. 

In  conclusion  I  should  be  glad  to  say  something 
more  serious.  I  am  a  Presbyterian  by  birth,  educa- 
tion and  conviction.  I  greatly  value  all  the  good  God 
has  associated  with  that  system.  I  am  not  blind  or 
indifferent  to  the  great  good  also  associated  with 
various  other  forms  of  Christian  faith.  I  am  thank- 
ful for  the  good  that  is  in  them.  I  rejoice  very  much 
in  my  Presbyterlanism,  because  I  can  be  true  to  it, 
and  yet  thoroughly  true  to  all  the  sister  denominations 
around  about  me.  If  I  were  to-day  to  abandon  my 
Presbyterianism  and  go  to  some  of  the  churches  round 
about  me,  some  of  them  would  insist  on  my  being 
RE-baptized  and  RE-ordained  ;  but  if  any  one  from 
another  church  desires  to  unite  with  us,  no  such  re- 
quirements are  needed  ;  if  he  gives  evidence  of  having 
been  born  of  God,  there  is  no  barrier  in   the  way  of 


OF  FRANKFORD.  165 

reception.  Presbyterianism,  too,  is  republican.  The 
political  organization  of  this  country,  in  the  beginning 
was  substantially  organized  after  the  Presbyterian 
model  of  government;  and  the  legislature,  in  some 
States,  is  characterized  to  this  day  as  the  General  As- 
sembly. I  do  not  see  why  we  should  not  be  able  to 
work  freely,  cordially,  harmoniously,  and  to  mutual 
benefit  and  advantage  with  the  civil  government, 
established  in  God's  providence  over  this  whole  land  ; 
and  I  am  persuaded  the  more  we  seek  to  teach  the 
truth  as  it  is  in  God's  word,  both  in  the  church  and 
from  house  to  house,  the  better  we  shall  be  as  citizens, 
the  better  helpers  we  shall  be  to  all  the  various 
evangelical  churches,  that  are  bent  upon  spreading  the 
same  truth  and  glorifying  our  Lord  and  Master.  For 
let  us  not  forget  that  the  churches  are  not  ends,  but 
means  to  an  end :  the  end  is  the  salvation  of  immortal 
souls ;  the  churches,  and  ministers,  and  synods,  etc., 
are  so  many  means  we  think  wisely  adapted,  divinely 
appointed  by  the  Head  of  the  church  for  the  attain- 
ment of  these  high  ends. 

Now  are  there  any  of  us  here  inclined  to  rejoice  a 
little  in  our  churches — to  magnify  them — who  have 
never  yet  come  to  the  end  for  which  these  are  the 
means?  Are  any  of  us  satisfied  with  means,  practi- 
cally despising  the  end  ?     Where  is  the   use  of  our 


1 6Q  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  CHURCH 

hearing  preaching,  of  our  attending  the  public  wor- 
ship of  God,  if  we  are  not  individually  saved,  per- 
sonally brought  into  a  state  of  fellowship  with  Jesus 
Christ?  Now  I  am  sure  this  centenary  celebration 
will  long  be  remembered  by  many  here;  oh,  how 
glad  will  that  remembrance  be,  if  some  soul  should 
remember  it  in  this  way,  as  to  say, 

"  It  was  at  that  time,  it  was  near  the  close  of  the  meeting  that 
I  saw  the  main  thing  for  me  was,  to  be  in  Jesus  Christ,  to  trust 
in  him,  to  close,  as  our  fathers  used  to  describe  it,  with  the  offer 
of  Christ  and  accept  him  as  my  Saviour  and  Lord." 

What  a  glorious  celebration  that  would  be  to  com- 
plete the  century  of  this  Church's  history!  what  a 
splendid  monument  to  erect ! 

I  have  only  to  say  in  conclusion,  that  it  gives  me 
special  pleasure  to  know  that  the  blessing  of  God  has 
hitherto  rested  upon  this  Church.  May  his  blessing 
continue  to  be  with  you  ;  and  in  the  memories  of  that 
better  life,  which  is  to  come,  may  this  Church  be 
signalized  as  the  birth-place  of  immortal  souls,  a 
centre  whence  emanated  a  wide-spread,  lasting  and 
spiritual  influence. 


OF  FRANKFORD.  \  67 

IX. 

HYMN. 

SUNG  BY  THE  CHOIR  AND  CONGREGATION. 

DISMISSIOIJ. 

Lord,  dismiss  us  with  thy  blessings 

Bid  us  all  depart  in  peace, 
Still  on  gospel  manna  feeding, 

Pure  seraphic  love  increase. 
Fill  each  breast  with  consolation, 

Up  to  thee  our  voices  raise ; 
When  we  reach  that  blissful  station, 

Then  we'll  give  thee  nobler  praise. 
And  we'll  sing  Hallelujah  to  God  and  the  Lamb. 

Hallelujah  for  ever  and  ever.         Amen. 


X. 

BENEDICTION. 

BY  THE  REV.    WM.    A.    JENKS. 


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